AASAP: Arkansas Association of Student Assistance Programs

AASAP Recently announced two scholarship opportunities.  AASAP will be accepting applications from current and past TRiO participants who meet the identified criteria.  The due date for the scholarship applications is May 31, 2012.  Please download the application from the link below and follow the instructions for submission.

Dr Vance Simelton Scholarship 2012

Robbie L Lyle 2012

Arkansas TRiO personnel visited Washington DC this past week to attend the Seminar held by COE. They visited the federal Congressmen and Senators to be the ‘Voice’ of our students. We would like to encourage all TRiO parties, both staff and students to email our representatives. There is no better way to advocate or impact our representative than the personal stories from our students. This year we are asking for three things:

First, to insist the Appropriations Committee increase TRiO funding by $156.6 million dollars. This is the amount needed to bring us back to the funding lost the past 6 years. We have lost 44,000 students due to the level funding we have been forced to function on.

Second, we need for the Appropriations Committee to include TRiO in any Job bills to allow us to get students into or back in the workplace. TRiO already has EOC which is in place and ready to help students into the workplace.

Third, our representatives must stop the mishandling of TRiO grant programs by the Department of Education. Most recently, the UB grant cycle which has placed an unfair priority in place. Once recognized, the Department reopened the cycle for grant resubmit and put many programs in jeopardy of late notification of funding which could cost many TRiO staff their jobs. We want Congressional control of the Departments decisions and regulations on our grant programs.

Please let your representatives know that we are holding them accountable for their active support or lack thereof. You want to know if you can report to your community press that they actively support the education of low-income, first-generations students. If not, you will send that to the press….we must apply the pressure and let them know we will no longer sit by and allow our students to be pawns in the political field. Thank you for your support. Remember, COE will prepare a press release for you to submit to your local paper if you need them….they are here to help us!

I have attached the memo given to us by COE to use when contacting our representative…please feel free to use it as a guide when you write to them…   3 Messages to government

If you have any questions about the message TRiO should send to Washington, please contact:

Sharon Scudder, AASAP President
Director, SSS
ASU – Heber Springs
101 River Crest Drive
Heber Springs, AR 72543
501-362-1230
Fax: 501-362-1296
sascudder@asub.edu

The 2012 AASAP Spring Leadership Conference will be held on Friday, April 13, 2012 at Ozarka College – Mountain View campus.

Additionally, AASAP will be offering a pre-conference activity on Thursday, April 12, 2012 (see flyer for more information AASAP Spring Leadership Conference Flyer).  Many of you remember seeing Ryan Eller and Jerrod Murr at SWASAP.  They are bringing some energy to Arkansas to teach us some active learning exercises to use in our programs.

See the Spring Leadership 2012 Page for registration information.

Recognizing outstanding former TRIO participants is a special event that gives our TRIO community an opportunity to showcase our alumni and their successes.  The TRIO Achievers Award serves as a source of pride in knowing that TRIO continues to make a difference in the lives of thousands of first generation and low-income students throughout the AASAP region and the United States.

Please take the time to nominate a former TRiO student who exemplifies the purpose of the program.

TRiO Achievers Nominations Form1

TRiO Achievers Call forNomination Form

TRiO Day in Arkansas on February 25th was a blast. Good people, good gifts, good food, and good times at Harding University in Searcy, AR.  We had over 320 attending and gave out 30+ medals to our Hall of Fame students.  Great student speakers, poster winners, service project, and two Coins For College Scholarships of $400 each…what a prosperous day!!  Also included the ‘Where’s Piggy’…shown with Mary Kate Snow is Mr Jason McGehee, representative from Congressman Tim Griffin’s office, contributing to Fair Share!!  Go TRiO…

Hall of Fame Nomination Form

Please take a few minutes to name one of your students into the TRiO Hall of Fame!
The TRiO Hall of Fame student is choose by your program staff. It is a current student who you feel is the best candidate to honor. There are no set rules to follow for your choice and no nomination form.
Each program will choose a student, take a pic, and have them write a short bio as to how TRiO has helped them succeed. These should be submitted to Jeanette Berry, jberry@rmcc.edu, by the registration date for TRiO Day (February 13).

Our hope is that there will be a hundred of them to publish. We encourage each program to submit a Hall of Fame student regardless of whether you attend TRiO Day or not. You do not have to be an AASAP member to submit a student or attend TRiO Day. We want our representatives to read your students reasons TRiO is important to them…we can talk to our representatives all day long and not make the impact your students can!!

Please encourage all TRiO programs on your campus to let us praise you students!!

Registration for our 2012 TRiO Day celebration is open!!  Please put the date, Feb. 25, on your calendar and gear up to come.  Remember, we will have a poster contest so have your students get started.  This years theme for both National TRiO day and Policy is “College Opportunity Programs: Paving the Way to America’s Prosperity”.  In addition, we hope to have lots of Coins for College donations to provide as many scholarships as possible to our TRiO high school seniors and college students.  Jeanette Berry will be compiling our Hall of Fame booklets this year.  She will need a student picture and short statement as to what TRiO has done for them to place in the booklet.  We will send out the Congressional Cards for your students to fill out…please, please have your students do this and mail them before policy…these have a tremendous impact on our representatives.  Once again, we will send the cards out for you to print and mail.  Send receipts for printing or mailing costs to AASAP treasurer Vergina Smith, SSS program, College of the Ouachitas, One College Circle, Malvern, AR. 72104 for reimbursement.  Due to high security measures in
the capitol, packages can sit for weeks before they are scanned and sent to the representatives office.  Therefore, we would like for these to be mailed individually.  How astonishing it will be for a representative to receive a large bag of cards from from students telling them how TRiO has impacted their lives!!

Remember, TRiO Day is for all TRiO programs in Arkansas.  You do not have to be a member of AASAP to participate.  Although our email list consists of AASAP members, please share this information with all TRiO programs so we can have a giant Hall of Fame booklet and thousands of Congressional Cards on the desks of our representatives!!  We can make a difference!!

On another note, I would like to commend my TRiO friends for their hard work to secure funding for our students and programs.  Here is a statement published by COE:

Due to the united efforts of TRIO champions on
Capitol Hill and grassroots support from the TRIO
community, TRIO managed to secure an increase of
$13.4 million for a total appropriation of $839.9
million for FY 2012. While this figure is far
below the $920.1 million proposed by President
Obama back in February of this year, an
examination of all other education funding
demonstrates what a staunch victory this is. In
fact, TRIO is one of nine programs within the
Department of Education ­ and the only higher
education program ­ to receive an increase.
All other programs were cut.

The final outcome of the FY 2012 appropriations
debate illustrates two points. First, the
advocacy of the TRIO community did, in fact,
positively impact action on Capitol Hill. For
that, all TRIO advocates must be commended. The
second point, however, is that more work remains
to be done. Looking ahead to FY 2013, the TRIO
community must build upon its success to secure
additional dollars to prevent the losses of
additional students and restore losses already
suffered. With National TRIO Day (February 25,
2012) and COE’s Annual Policy Seminar (March
11-13, 2012) just around the corner,
opportunities abound for greater TRIO advocacy.

The 2011 AASAP Spring Leadership Conference was hosted by the TRiO staff at National Park Community College in Hot Springs. The theme was “Recipe for Successful Leadership.” NPCC President, Dr. Sally Carder, delivered the keynote speech on the “Key Ingredients of Successful Leadership.” Breakout sessions included a True Colors® Leadership session entitled, “What Flavor is Your Leadership,” a session by AASAP leaders Jeanette Berry and Donna Mooney titled, “Add a Spoonful of Attitude,” and a session by NPCC’s Christi Zumwalt titled, “Essential Utensils.”

The conference was well attended with 81 AASAP members from across the state. The conference was a fund raiser for AASAP, and a raffle was held to raise money for Fair Share. If your college is interested in hosting next year’s leadership conference, please contact AASAP Secretary, Suzanne Hendrix at 501-760-4302.

Place your orders now for the 2011 Arkansas TRIO Fact Book and pick it up at  the Spring Leadership Conference in Hot Springs, AR.

Cost is just $10. Order one for your office and your TRIO Hall of Fame Star.

To order please submit the attached form to Donna Mooney.

Policy Book Purchase Order Form 2011