Hello,

My name is Jacob Upland and I'm excited to be running for the Central region Board of Directors. I started my first official AGA Chapter in 2005 at my local high school after, like so many of us, falling in love with the game via Hikaru No Go. Unbeknownst to me at the time, we hosted the first tournament in Iowa and were one of, if not the first official Chapters in the state. Over the next couple decades, I helped run or establish several Chapters across the state and hosted several more tournamnets, keeping Iowa active on the Go map. I've learned a lot during that time, including how to deal with the specific challenges to speading Go in areas that don't have a local hub of activity in a heavily populated area. For those living in small town, or even smaller cities, activity can die and clubs can fall into obscurity fast. I've developed a state-wide, decentralized approach to foster activity wherever it pops up. Using a state-wide Chapter and Discord channel, we keep place for activity when it falls off and help it grow back, as far as give any resources we can to fledgling (or returning) clubs. As of today, Iowa has 4, soon to be 5, active Chapters, working both individually and together as a state collaborative project embodied as our statewide parent Chapter, the Iowa Go Society. We also plug our efforts into the entire Midwest in the Midwest Go Association Discord, where I act as a moderator. I want to take this model and spread it to others by teaching them how to replicate our efforts.

I also have broader goals for the AGA itself. I and am spearheading setting up a merch store with AGA-branded goods, have helped overhaul the AGA Discord alongside our other Central Director, Daniel Lambert, and am working to make improvements to the Chapter Rewards system to make it more transparent and accessible, showing a club's current Points after each tournament update and a ledger of how they were calculated. I also generally have my finger on the pulse of any other expressions for improvements and try to amplify those voices and push prospective volunteers to the right place and am hoping that winning this seat will only strengthen my ability to continue doing what I am already doing from outside the Board. Win or lose, I will be heavily involved and pushing for change and action and contributing however I can.

Thank you for considering me for this seat, and I'd be honored to win your vote.