In January of 2019 I received the AAPT Melba Phillips award. The award provided me the opportunity to reflect on the many programs in which I had participated and the outstanding AAPT leaders that I had the privilege to know. Those reflections are represented in the following narrative that I delivered at the AAPT Winter Meeting in Houston. I will tell you a few short stories about working with these individuals. (There is a theme to these stories: working together, we can accomplish much more than any individual effort.)

1.
AAPT
, “Melba Newell Phillips Medal,” https://www.aapt.org/Programs/awards/phillips.cfm.
2.
Melba Newell Phillips Award
,”
Am. J. Phys.
51
,
495
(
June
1983
).
3.
Albert A.
Bartlett
, “
The exponential function: Part 1
,”
Phys. Teach.
14
,
393
(
Oct.
1976
).
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.