My name is Nicole Schmitt, and I'm so pleased to be working with the great membership of the National Jersey Wooly RC! I thought you might like to know a little about me.
I live in southeastern Wisconsin, with my partner, Michelle Wojcik (ARBA Judge # 914!), and I'm in my "early 40's" (yeah, we're just going to leave it at that!).
I didn't actually grow up with rabbits. In fact, until I met Michelle, I had *no* idea people actually did this with their spare time! I didn't know there was any rabbit shows outside of the county fair! I always thought it was nice that there was somewhere people could take their bunny rabbits for a few days. I had NO idea! When Michelle told me she had rabbits, I asked how many. At the time, the answer to that was around 40. I was FLABBERGASTED! What?! I wanna see them, NOW! And here we are, nearly 10 years later, and "The Rabbit Habit" is a huge & integral part of our lives. Every vacation! What am I telling you for?! You already know, don't you?!
I first became involved in keeping points with the Wisconsin State RBA. I served with them for 4 seasons. The reason I wanted to do it was I wanted to be an important part of the hobby, and to have my own identity outside of being with Michelle. But, I didn't know a lot about rabbits at the time, so sweepstakes seemed the perfect route for me to follow. I didn't need to know a lot about rabbits to do that - I just needed to be super organized (check), computer literate (check) and an Excel geek (oh, BIG check!). Once I started into it, I found that I really, really enjoy doing it. I enjoy working both with clubs & the membership.
I've served as sweeps chair with the American Mini Lop RC since their chartering in the Spring / early Summer of 2011. My first national job. Oh, I was so excited, and I thought - it's only 1 breed, how hard can it be?! Um, okay, 1 breed, but like a LOT more shows... Hm. :) But I've got a really good system, and seem pretty good at mainstreaming things, and keeping excellent records.