Hello everyone and thank you for joining me once again. 🙂

If you’ve missed the first part of our send-off to the Exemplar Program, here is the link to it. Do check it out.

Let’s continue to take a look at the memorable exemplar nominations that some of our fellow judges have authored, shall we?

Of all the nominations you’ve authored what nomination is the most memorable to you? *
Wave #12. For QJ Wong.
:During GP Singapore 2017, you were my team lead for the deck check team. Halfway through the day, you approached me to check up on me. What I thought was just simple talk and assessment became a lot more. The talk became coaching. You helped me refocus and remember my goals of improving myself via the judge program. You also gave me a third-person view of myself and gave me points on where I should focus on. Thank you very much.

Why is that?
I’ve been a judge for a few years now and have somewhat derailed from my judging goals due to real-life commitments and reduced focus. During a GP where I was under QJ’s team, he helped me analyze my current situation and gave me insights and ideas on how I can refocus on my goals as a judge. And I thank him a lot for that.

Wave 18, marks the last wave of the exemplar program. What would you miss most about the project?
The nominations. It is always nice to receive a nomination since it means you have touched some one’s life in an unexpected way.

Of all the nominations you’ve authored what nomination is the most memorable to you?
That would be the nomination I wrote for Wearn Chong, Summer 2017 (Wave #10)
during Surabaya’s WMCQ, we chat a bit but that chat encouraged me a lot to be a level 2. Because your words will always be in my mind. “being a judge, you can learn a lot and improve yourself, you don’t need to focus on being as good or better than others, the goal is to be better than you are now” thank you.

Why is that?
what Wearn said, encouraged me to learn and to just keep on learning. I’ve been to a lot of conferences because of that. Ever since then, I try to improve myself in every opportunity that I have. His words enlightened and inspired me to be better.

Wave 18, marks the last wave of the Exemplar Program. What would you miss most about the project?
The Exemplar Program is to recognize how an action, no matter how big or small can make an impact on our community and for the improvement of the judges. In my opinion, getting recognition from another judge in the form of exemplar will “reward” us to improve more. Feedback is good, but exemplar is great(for positive reinforcement).

Of all the nominations you’ve authored what nomination is the most memorable to you?
The most memorable for me is the one I wrote for Daniel K. back in 2015:
DK, you have always been one of the judges I admire the most in the program. I know that the L3 testing program is somewhat behind the scene and not a lot of judges see the efforts that you make there. I want to recognize you for those efforts and I know that with you in the lead, we can continue to expect great new L3s in the program

Why is that?
Daniel has been very influential not just to me but a lot of other judges as well. His contributions to the program might have been unknown to most but I believe he is one of the pillars in the judge program and my recognition illustrates one of his great endeavors – the L3 testing procedure.

Wave 18, marks the last wave of the exemplar program. What would you miss most about the project?
To be honest I believe that the Exemplar Program for all the good things it has given us is a very flawed system that is riped for abuse. I would sound like a hypocrite if I did not say I will miss the foils but what I will not miss is sometimes the blatant abuse that the XP had been associated with. Sometimes judges who are actually deserving of exemplar are not recognized simply because they do not have an L2+ judge who sees beyond their inner circle. This is true for the program globally and my hope is that when they decide to bring it back they will address that issue.

Thank you for taking the time to read this part 2 of our Send-Off to the Exemplar Program. I appreciate it a lot.

My take on the subject, I’ve been a recipient of some from Wave #8 to Wave#18 and authored a few from Wave #14 to Wave #18. Just like what many have mentioned, the program has flaws and some great things about it as well. I’m really hoping that something similar, would be part of Judge Academy in the future. Recognizing exemplary behaviors that can then be emulated by others in the community, would definitely benefit the community as a whole.

You might be wondering….. What to expect from our Regional Blog moving forward?

We’re all entering a new chapter, moving forward we will be part of Judge Academy. But one thing is certain, the name might have changed along with some other changes, but the community that we’re all part of will continue to be an amazing community. That being said, content for our regional blog will continue to be made and if anyone has any suggestions. Feel free to contact us via mtgsearegion@gmail.com

SEA Region Judge Blog Team

Felix Ramon M. Capule III

Zie Aun Tan

Shanin Paisalachpong

Chuanjie Seow

Sugeng Hartawan