EDUCATION 2014 Year- End Review A look back at our progress, triumphs and losses this year. By Jim Hancock, CML, CMST R eviewing any year is always tough because you forget things that happened that are noteworthy, or you tend to make some events bigger, better, shinier or faster than they really were. And certainly there are events that make you want to forget certain years ever happened at all; I assure you, 2014 is one of those for me. In the ALOA Education world, several things have gone on during 2014, but the most newsworthy has by far been the continuing project of deconstructing and reconstructing our training facility in Dallas. You always hear people utter the cliché “thanks in large part to blah blah blah,” but in this case, it’s not thanks in large part but thanks completely to you, our members, who contributed from pennies and dollars to hundreds and thousands to make it happen. Without these contributions, the building project would not have gotten off the ground. While there is still work to do, I am happy to report that the money being used is 100% donations, and no funds are being used from any other department budget or source (go show this to your local politician and ask them to call, and I’ll explain how that works). During 2014, there have been several new classes developed and offered in Dallas and at the convention. These classes include the Certified Hardware Installer training, Quick- Books training, and Safe Moving and Rigging, just to name a few. ALOA Education will continue to reach out to our talented pool of instructors and members alike to give us ideas and starting points to develop new classes to stay in front of the technology wave. In certification, new testing has been and is being developed for our new institutional division members, as well as the new certifications that were introduced: the ICRL, ICPL and ICML. Plans were started and are ongoing to add levels to the certification such as a master level to automotive, and an electronic locksmithing certification. The third-party testing was finally completed, so testing is once again available at test centers around the country, and the tests are immensely more secure. “While there is still work to do, I am happy to report that the money being used is 100% donations...” The ALOA 2014 Convention in New Orleans was a good one, albeit not as well- attended as I would have hoped. Those who did attend had some very good classes and certainly a great time aſter class (some probably before class). Finally, no year-end review seems com- plete without mentioning the people we have lost during the year. To these industry leaders, pioneers, supporters and blue-col- lar heroes, we thank you for your dedica- tion to this business we love and for pav- ing the way or keeping the path clear for the rest of us: Robert J. Erdmann Jake Jakubuwski J. C. Mitchell Richard “Richie” Williams William “Bill” Jacob Greenberg Stanley Haney Robert “Bob” Volosing Matthew J. Domzal Jeffrey R. Nafis Peter Sarailian Edna L. Sernau Stephen Carl Dean, RL, AFL Alvin Ostheimer Olen Cothron Skip Eckert Harold “Hal” Tibbetts And certainly more whom we were not informed about. Again, your association, your peers — and most of all your indus- try — thank you. Here’s looking ahead to 2015 and the con- tinued evolution of the industry — and the continuing maturation of the new ALOA. ancock, CML, CMST, A’s education manager, n his locksmithing ca- r at the age of 8 in his dfather’s lock shop fport, MS. He has ed in every aspect of usiness, from shop tech bile tech to operations gement. In 2003 and , he was presented with ructor of the Year. You g or (214) 819-9733. 56 KEYNOTES DECEMBER 2014 WWW.ALOA.ORG
