SAVE THE DATE

2013 Annual AASAP Conference

October 5-8, 2013

Rogers, AR   Embassy Suites Hotel

AASAP Spring Leadership Conference Hosted by

Henderson State University Trio Programs

On Friday, April 19, 2013, the Henderson State University Trio programs hosted the annual Spring Leadership Conference.  Approximately 95 participants attended the conference in Arkadelphia that focused on the theme of developing leadership skills through volunteerism.

The day’s event tabbed “Rock’n Leadership Skilz Through Volunteerism” was a fun way to take conference participants on a musical journey to the days of “rock-n-roll”  and for Michael Jackson impersonator, Jacob Burns, Henderson State University Theater Arts major, to entertain participants with his dance rendition of “Billie Jean” as conference participants learned about the connection between volunteerism and leadership skills.

Sessions included presentations by Dr. Connie Phelps, Associate Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences, HSU; Kathy Brownlee, VUB Assistant Director, HSU; Pam Ligon, Associate Dean of Academic Services, HSU; Dr. Lewis Shepherd, Jr., Vice-President for Student and External Affairs, HSU; Beverly Quillin, SSDS Education Specialist, HSU; Brenda Hagerich, SSS Education Specialist, HSU and Erin Poe, SSDS Education Specialist, HSU.

Presenters discussed leadership skills that students could develop through volunteer experiences.   It was shown that Trio students can realize important developmental skills through volunteering programs.  Volunteering can encourage the building of such traits as: positive attitudes when helping to make positive changes in their communities, learning good communications skills when working with large organizations, problem-solving skills when things don’t always go as planned, learning to act as a team player, how to work well under pressure and understanding that leaders need a healthy ego to lead but also need the personality to be able to “check” their ego at the door for the good of the volunteer activity.

Presenters also shared information on helping students overcome challenges in finding time to volunteer, helping students locate volunteer opportunities, helping students understand the benefits that volunteering can provide them and helping students decide which volunteering activities are a good match for them.  Lastly, the conference presenters discussed the importance of helping students to record and maintain volunteer experiences so that those experiences can be used to help the student in building resumes, in scholarship applications and in applying for admission to graduate schools.

The day ended with participants posing for pictures in front of our “Rock-N-Roll Wall of Fame.”

The Department of Education’s HEP Meeting was a success.  With over 3200 attendees, information on topics such as changes in financial aid, persistence, retention, and budgets were shared.  Transcripts and Power Points for the meetings can be found at http://www.hepmeetings.com/agenda/.  Just click on the day and then click on the title of the presentation for the information.  In addition, we had the opportunity to visit with our program officers.  These were informal and allowed us time to get to know them.  Pictured is Shakir Davy, the program officer for Student Support Services, along with several directors and staff from around the state.

Arkansas had over 26 present.  These individuals took the time to make follow-up visits to our federal representatives.  Visits were made to Senators Pryor and Boozman, along with all Congressmen except Crawford.  Although they received us well, the republicans did not vote yes to the Harkins amendment to increase TRiO funding by 14 million dollars.  The amendment did not pass.  This is unacceptable.

Since the latest budget crunch, things are not good in DC for TRiO…we MUST have our students write to our representatives and let them know that TRIO Works.  Send your APR Objective Data to your representative and Senators.  Compare your data to the university, state, and nation…just a little gathering on your part will go a long way once in the hands of those holding the budget purse strings.  In this time of appropriations, we must be diligent and relentless in our contact with our representatives…we must let them know how important and successful our work is with students who are first-generation, low-income, and disable.  How important our programs are in getting students both traditional and non-traditional into college and then the workplace.

Do this today…contact your representatives…have your students write today…donate to Fair Share today…these are things we can do to secure the future of our jobs and services to our students.

Please mark your calendars for the upcoming 2013 AASAP Spring Leadership.  This year’s event will be Hosted by Henderson State University on their lovely campus in Arkadelphia.

Plan to join the AASAP membership on April 19, 2013 from 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Registration will take place between February 13 and March 29th.

(No on-site registration)

The cost of the conference is $50.00 for members  ($80.00 for non-members)

AASAP Spring 2013 Conference

For more information, please contact:

Cecilia Addington
870-230-5411 - addingc@hsu.edu

We have a full day of activities planned and we are certain that each program will benefit from this experience. Registration information can be found at:

http://2013aasaptrioday.eventbrite.com/

The deadline for registration is Friday, February 15th.  We are encouraging programs to nominate a student to be inducted into the 2013 TRiO Hall of Fame, form is attached.  We are also encouraging our program’s to personally buy a Hall of Fame/Congressional Booklet to take back to put on display in your office or share with your institution leadership so they can see the great things that are going on in TRiO across this fine state. Also we will be doing coins for college as well as our annual canned food drive.

ASU-J TRiO Family, made up of Upward Bound, Student Support Services, and McNair are looking forward to hosting this event and providing us with one HOWL of an experience. If you have any direct questions you can reach out to the TRiO Day Campus Liaisons – Rasheda Hamilton, Director of Upward Bound – rhamilton@astate.edu or Jerrod Lockhart, Director of Student Support Services – jlockhar@astate.edu

Register Today!

2013 National TRiO Day – Hall of Fame Canned Food Drive 2013 Coins for College 2013

Canned Food Drive 2013

Coins for College 2013

http://bit.ly/131O5Ds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WiyDAinVPI

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.