Hello again folks! No need to panic, yes this article is being posted out of rotation on purpose! This is your Editor, Daniel Lee, bringing you a special look at some of the work that goes on to produce the Exemplar Highlights articles you all look forward to! For our last highlight, we saw Christian Aguilar recognize David Zimet in a unique way. John Hornberg, the author of that article, recorded some of the Q&A he conducted with Christian to make that article a reality. Enjoy!

John: You mentioned Zimet helped people with taking on more responsibility. Tell me more about he helped you personally?
Christian: With additional responsibilities it wasn’t so much myself, I’ve seen on slack multiple times where he will encourage people to take on roles in projects in order to help themselves get their names out and assist in the program, in my case this has been in the form of becoming an Area Captain or encouraging me to try and do a separate article or two for the regional blog (to which I’ve just had no spare time for) he really wants to help people show off their strength or passion and reassures them that they can succeed at it. Most recently things on the blog.

JH: What are some of the things people don’t really appreciate that he does?
CA: In my opinion I think it’s his visibility, before slack he was seemingly no where to be found and unreachable (I will note that this was false, it’s just that the fact that he didn’t post much made it seem like he was unreachable when really it was just that he didn’t post much). On Slack, he has been much more active and his level of reachability is still very good. What I’m saying is David is very approachable and not just you’re average bridge troll, if you have an issue or feel like something needs his attention then just ask him. There have been times where I am unsure on how to take action on matters with local TOs/Judges/Players and he has helped me assess the situations and their needs in the past.

JH: Tell me about sparked your decision to recognize him in the last wave?
CA: His compassion, understanding and tactfulness are on a god tier level. This was a large influence on writing the exemplar, he listens and provides a point of view you may not have thought of while not undermining your feelings on matters. I pointed out a situation where he spent time helping people get properly compensated for an event, I mean he spent a good amount of time on that (if I recall correctly 3 months) and all while listening to my frustrations on the situation while still managing to keep me cool about it. I can’t really get into it too much, but I will say that the level of compassion he shows and continues to show is really a trait that suits him as an RC and as a Judge it’s very unique.

JH: Also, why write the recognition in Spanish? That struck me as really unique in this wave.
CA: Hahahahahaha the Spanish thing, OK, so if you look back at a previous exemplar that good ol’ Zimster wrote for me it’s in Spanish, and for those of you who speak a lick of Spanish, you will notice the cringeworthiness of some of the Spanish! it felt special that he went out of his way to write that in Spanish (albeit that was also him probably emerging from underneath his bridge) but I decided to pay my respects and write this one in Spanish as well, seeing as it’s my second language I’m sure it was easier for me than it was for him. As for why it felt special it was very personal and I could feel that he had fun writing it all while still giving me recognition in that wave, in return I did have a lot of fun writing his exemplar as I do for every single one that I write this was definitely a first for a Spanish one.

“David is a wonderful person, a fantastic leader and a good friend. He has been a great fit for the role of RC and seriously don’t be afraid to reach out to him, he’s not that scary.”

I really hope you enjoyed this look into the work we do to bring you these articles every couple of weeks. Check back next week for another exciting Exemplar Highlight!