So I turned on the television yesterday and I learned that there was a presidential election coming up. Why is no one talking about this as it seems very important? My only hope now that news outlets are reporting on the election is that the candidates will run a positive, uplifting campaign.

I plan to review both candidates’ higher education proposals. As long as they don’t do anything earth shattering like use 2015 tax returns in 17-18 then I can handle it.

My sources are telling me this already happened and it’s called PPY.

What kind of a name is PPY anyway? It lacks a certain creativity. And why am I always the last to know?

Moving on.

I am pleased to start blogging again and I hope I have interesting things to share with you throughout the year. If they are not interesting, don’t despair. EASFAA is assembling a team of bloggers so surely the other writers will leave you entertained and/or informed.

I can only speak for myself here but you have my guarantee that I will not once, no matter how hard it is, mention the election or PPY. Consider this your safe space.

I have spent the better part of the last two decades working with students. I love what I do and I cannot imagine doing anything else. This last year was different though. I have a (gulp!) college freshman. Going through the college search has opened my eyes to all of the stresses that families experience on their way to finding the right fit. I suspect the experience will guide my future interactions and I hope make me a better financial aid professional.

In my house we talk a lot about making good choices and in the months leading up to move-in day we offered many pieces of advice to my daughter. I meant to write them all down in a beautiful, heartfelt letter to her but life got in the way. So forthwith I share my words of advice for new college students, sans the sugary exposition.

Fail…a lot!
Never go to a party alone.
Call your parents every week.
Learn to budget your time.
Be sensitive to your friends’ economic stations.
Find success in your failures.
Always leave a party with the friend you went with.
Call your parents every week.
When at a party, never leave your drink unattended! If you do, dump it and get another one.
Don’t spread yourself too thin. Instead, pick a few things you really love and commit to them.
Call your parents. Did I mention that one?
Make eye contact.
Give a firm handshake.
Take advantage of office hours.

What am I forgetting? Join the conversation by sharing your advice below.

See you in this space again soon.

So Day 2 is upon us and there are many sessions from which to choose. I always obsess about this when I am at a conference. Since I cannot go to every session I have to decide where I am going to get the best ‘bang for my buck’ that I can take back to the office and share with the rest of the staff. I have a colleague with me so I will most likely seek her out so we can divide and conquer. Right now this is where I am leaning:

Who is Your Point of Contact? Awarding or Veterans
IPADs in the Financial Aid Office
US Presidents and Financial Aid
Online Programs: Challenges and Solutions

I will let you know how they went.

Unless I go to different sessions.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Our members are checked in.  The meeting rooms are ready.

After all of the work to put this conference together it is finally here.  In 25 minutes I will welcome the membership and the conference will begin.  Please check this blog for regular updates.

I’m off to brush up on my Spanish.

This past Saturday I had the honor to walk with Team EASFAA in the 8^th Annual National Epilepsy Walk.  We walked around the tidal basin amidst the bare Cherry Blossom trees and in the distance we could see the Jefferson and Martin Luther King Memorials.  It was a cold morning but we didn’t mind.  It was hard to feel cold when we were joined by over 6000 other walkers whose amazing spirit kept us warm.

My post today is a bit of a departure from the usual.  I want to entertain you, of course, but I have no plans to promote the conference or other EASFAA services.  No, today I simply write to say thank you.  All year we tried to educate our membership about epilepsy and how prevalent it is in our society.  Along with awareness, like any disease, money is needed to assist families and conduct research.

So, thank you for helping EASFAA raise $3738.  We had over 40 individual donations from aid professionals around the country and, in some cases, their friends.  It is very uplifting when we come together for a common cause.

Vice-President Wynette Zuppardi joined Team EASFAA as a virtual walker.

We all know how to pronounce the ASFAAs, right?  When you see E-A-S-F-A-A you know it is pronounced eesfah.  For those outside the financial aid community, not so much.  Our group had two funny moments during the walk.

First, I acquired a brand new 8 foot long EASFAA banner.  As we approached the start of the walk, the man with the microphone looked at our banner, dropped his head to his roster of teams, feverishly turned pages, then looked up again and announced the team behind us.  It was pretty funny to see his panicked expression at not knowing how to pronounce our team name.

Now fast forward to the finish line. The same man is there, microphone in hand, ready to announce our finish.  Once again our banner was proudly displayed.

“And next to finish…. (pause)….E – A – S – F – A – A.  At least he spelled our name this time.

It was a pleasure to walk with my wife (who was very protective of our banner, I’ll have you know), my children, my mother and father-in law and my sister-in law and her family.  My niece Ainsley, that I have written about before was able to see lots of other children like her, who struggle with the same things she does. I am sure she will look back on this walk and take comfort in it.

More thank yous. (Do you have to use complete sentences when you write a blog?)

Melissa Rakes has spearheaded all of our epilepsy initiatives this year.  She has given her time and talents to this and made it important to her.  She drove an hour and a half each way and rode a train to get to the walk. It was doubly nice that she brought her son and I had the pleasure of meeting this nice young man.

Pat Shoemaker is chairperson for Tri-State.  For those of you who have met Pat, you know that she will do anything to advance a cause that she believes is important.  I am proud to serve with her on the EASFAA Council this year.

Alice Farnham is EASFAA secretary. She is my colleague and my friend and I have been with her on Council for the last four years.  I can count on her 100% of the time and it meant so much that she was there to walk with my family.

Thank you to my entire EASFAA family for sharing this with me.