ROBERT W. JONES

Bob Jones spent 32 years teaching 8th grade science, but that's just the beginning! He is the Author of "Luminescent Minerals of Connecticut", Fluorescent minerals of Franklin, New Jersey", Nature's Hidden Rainbows", "50 Year History of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show" and is currently working on a text "The Frugal Collector, A science text on the mineraology of the world". Bob is a free lance writer for over 700 titles on gem and mineral subjects and has given hundreds of lectures to Gem and Mineral Societies around the country. You may have read several of his artiles in Rock and Gem Magazine! He has been a member of several societies and foundations, and won many honors.

 

Some sites to read more about Bob Jones:

http://www.rockhounds.com/rockgem/articles/bob_jones.html

http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=879

ALAN SCHAFFERT

I spent a great deal of time during my youth in Wyoming, following my Dad and brother while they fly-fished. They fished; I inspected and gathered rocks! Many years later, after raising three daughters, working as a legal secretary and activity director, this love of rocks was reawakened while taking Geology 101 and Mining History of the Mother Lode classes at our local community college, taught by a local geologist, Professor George Wheeldon. His amazing enthusiasm and vast knowledge inspires everyone in his class! My husband, Bill, and I had so much fun on the field trips we were hooked forever! The next step was joining our dynamic El Dorado County Mineral & Gem Society and the rest is history! I have served as Social Chair/Host; Ambassador Chair, 1st Director and now my second year as Secretary of the Board of Directors.

New Member Orientation

The El Dorado Society's New Member Orientation is an ever-evolving program! Originally, they had an Ambassador Program to welcome new members and give each new member a packet of information about our Society in a manila envelope. In an effort to encourage members to save and review the information in this packet, they developed an indexed 3-ring binder which new members keep for later reference. The binder gave a much more professional presentation, representing their growing Society, and contains 72 pages of information.

Since new members join throughout the year, they decided to conduct a monthly New Member Orientation one hour prior to each General Membership meeting by reviewing each section of the binder. This evolved into a PowerPoint presentation incorporating a text outline as well as photos of their members and many activities. The thought was that new members would become more interested and excited and, therefore, more involved in the Society when they actually SAW what they did instead of just reading about it. Sonja will go over their successful program and answer questions you may have

JIM BRACE-THOMPSON

 

Jim is the Junior Activities Chairman for both the California Federation of Mineral Societies, and the American Federation of Mineral Societiesand is also in charge of the "Junior Rockhounds of America".

Do you want to start a junior rockhound group in your club or society but are afraid you don't know enough to get one going? Do you have a junior rockhound group and want to see how to make it better by gathering ideas for more kids activities and programs you might implement? Or perhaps you already have a successful juniors group that's going like gangbusters. Would you be willing to share your experience to benefit fellow clubs within the Federation? Then come next month to the annual show of the Mother Lode Mineral Society!
The MLMS show committee has invited me to come to their show to help facilitate a Juniors Activities Roundtable Discussion. And we do want to make this a true roundtable, so the more participants, the more informed we'll all be as we walk away and return with new ideas to try in our own clubs. Thus, I invite anyone with a budding interest, anyone with long-standing experience, and anyone willing to share and to learn to come, question, listen, and participate. The Juniors Activities Roundtable Discussion will take place 2:00-3:00 PM, Saturday, March 13, during the MLMS annual show in the Lecture Hall at the Turlock Fairgrounds, 900 N. Broadway, Turlock, California. People coming to participate in the Roundtable are being offered FREE ADMISSION to the show! For a listing of other activities, keep an eye on the MLMS web site at www.motherlodemineralsociety.com. They have a tab you can click that will take you to show info. For instance, at 3:00 on Saturday and 1:00 on Sunday, Richard Wade will be giving a terrific presentation on dinosaurs that's sure to give you material to take back and use with your club's juniors. In addition, you'll have an opportunity to see 35 MLMS juniors working in a booth with their parents and to view a half dozen junior rockhound display cases, plus enjoy a host of other interesting speakers and activities. MLMS always puts on a good show, so I'm looking forward to seeing you there, to sharing ideas, and to having fun!

 

RICHARD WADE

Richard Wade, M.A. creator of www.sciencetalks.com leads an interactive and fun demonstration of how the dinosaurs lived and died. Children will discover how a fossil is created. Richard will explain the geologic timescale from periods to eras to eons. His presentation includes a full-scale model of a T-Rex skull, as well as a 7 foot model of a brachiosaurus leg bone! Don't let your child miss out on this exciting visual and learning experience that brings the Earth's ancient history to life!

 

www.sciencetalks.com

 

BRETT KELLER

 

Brett Keller has a passion for collecting and preparing Benitoite and will speak about the history, properties, and the art form of creating Benitoite specimens from rough ore. He will also update us on the status of the Clear Creek Recreational Area closure and current state of the California State Gem Mine. Brett is former program chairman of the Calaveras Gem and Mineral Society and takes great pleasure interpreting the allure of this special gem mineral. His PowerPoint presentation will show the evolution of Benitoite throughout its stages of preparation.