Trek Boldly Into New Frontiers
Captain’s Log – Supplemental
March 2007

VASFAA’s voyage this year is rapidly approaching its busy spring stretch. I know that springtime is right around the corner despite the two inches of freshly fallen snow I see outside my window. With the change in seasons come busier times in our offices as we gear up and dive into the 2007-2008 processing cycle while still buried up to our phasers in issues from the 2006-2007 cycle. It is at these busier, more hectic, more stressful times that we all need to remember to use the camaraderie, friendship and resources available to us through our fellow VASFAA crew members. So, if you are feeling overwhelmed, have questions you need answers to, or have encountered a heretofore unknown species of student, then just send a probe out to the VASFAA listserv and I know that your VASFAA shipmates will come to your rescue and offer assistance.

Our voyage this year has continued to move forward with great speed, warp speed even, and as happens with every crew sometimes, crew members depart. I report with mixed heart (sad for us, happy for her) that Robin White, one of our co-chairs for the Awareness Committee is leaving financial aid and VASFAA to become the Executive Assistant for the Chief Information Officer at the Library of Congress. We wish her the very best and hope she “lives long and prospers” in her new adventures.

The VASFAA Board had its winter meeting at the Marriott City Center in Newport News on January 30th. During that meeting, the board approved the 2007 slate of candidates and proposed bylaws changes that will be voted on by the membership at the annual conference. More information about the slate of candidates and bylaws changes can be found in a separate section of this newsletter.

Our committees have been very hard at work carrying out the missions of the five ships (Leadership, Membership, Fellowship, Partnership, and Scholarship) that we launched last July. Noteworthy committee activities that are in progress or have been completed include:

The Nominations and Elections Committee has put together a complete slate of candidates for the 2007 election. Many thanks to all those who agreed to have their names considered.

The Awareness Committee put together an outstanding 2007 Super Saturday event. There were 23 participating sites throughout the Commonwealth and preliminary numbers indicate a great turnout. I have heard that some sites had more than 200 attendees.

The Electronic Services Committee is working right alongside the Conference Committee in developing and deploying the 2007 conference web site and will be working with the Nominations and Elections Committee to prepare for on-line voting in conjunction with the conference.

The Federal Relations Committee continues to work with the regional Legislative Relations Committee to monitor congressional activity in anticipation of some movement this year on reauthorization issues.

The Membership Committee is actively working to increase the VASFAA membership by sending periodic updates out to the listserv.

The New Century Fund President's Council has received a number of applications for the New Century Educational Endowment (Buddy) Awards and has been evaluating those.

The Newsletter Committee has already published three issues of the VASFAA Voice Newsletter filled with interesting, relevant and fun articles.

The Public Relations Committee has been hard at work promoting the exciting things that VASFAA is doing. The committee is also working with the President to send acknowledgment and thank you letters out to volunteers and their supervisors.

The committee is also planning to send letters to the presidents of member institutions lauding the benefits of participation in VASFAA. To repeat the success of last year, the committee is also seeking a fresh batch of VASFAA vignettes to give some insights into the origins and careers of fellow VASFAA crew members.

The Secondary School Relations Committee, as previously reported, successfully set up 13 statewide high school guidance counselor training workshops which were being held between November 14th and December 15th. Feedback from these, including the one I participated in at Northern VA Community College, indicates that all of these have been very successful.

The Site Selection Committee is actively evaluating potential sites for the 2008 VASFAA Conference. We are very close to finalizing a site and contract for 2008. More details to come. Our 3-year contract with the Hilton Oceanfront hotel ends with the 2007 conference.

The State Relations Committee continues to monitor legislative activities related to financial aid and higher education. The committee, working in conjunction with the Awareness Committee, was able to get Senator Frank Ruff (R - 15th District) to act as a patron to enact a joint resolution declaring every February as Financial Aid Awareness Month in Virginia. The joint resolution, SJ334, was passed overwhelmingly by both the Senate and the House and has been adopted.

The Support Staff Training Committee, as previously reported, conducted two additional Fall Support Staff training workshops in Northern Virginia on November 28th and in Roanoke on November 29th.

The Vendor/Sponsor Committee has secured significant sponsorship funding for 2006-07 and continues to work on securing additional sponsorship.

I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful SASFAA conference in Nashville at which there were almost 90 folks from Virginia so VASFAA was well represented. Thanks to all who made the journey and braved the bad weather to get back. The conference was full of great sessions, wonderful camaraderie, and excellent opportunities for sharing.

VASFAA had a booth set up at the conference to showcase the upcoming 2008 SASFAA conference in Crystal City (Arlington) from 17-20 February 2008. We had over 300 folks stop by the VASFAA booth and get some information about the conference in Virginia. Thanks to all those that helped to staff the booth and special thanks to Micheal Poma, my fellow local arrangements co-chair, for that conference, for getting it all set up and getting the information together to give to the visitors. At the state meeting, we made the first of many calls yet to come to solicit volunteers to help with the SASFAA 2008 conference in Virginia. As I indicated, Michael Poma and I are local arrangements co-chairs for the conference. Brad Barnett is going to be the SASFAA conference committee chair for the 2008 conference. We will need LOTS of volunteers to make the SASFAA conference that we're hosting a big success. If you are interested in volunteering to help with the conference, please send an e-mail to me (emelis@gmu.edu) and/or Michael (michael.poma@suntrust.com) and let us know. Eventually, we'll put a list together to identify the specific areas that we're going to need help with but for now we just need to get lots of names of folks willing to help.

Now, while we want everyone to start getting excited about hosting SASFAA 2008, we also want folks to get excited about joining us for the annual VASFAA conference at the Hilton Oceanfront Resort in Virginia Beach this May 20-23. It promises to be a major galactic event and you'll definitely want to be there.

The theme of our 39th conference is "Be a Financial Aid 'Trekkie'", which is in line with our overall theme for the year to "Trek Boldly into New Frontiers." The conference is once again being held at the Virginia Beach Hilton Oceanfront Hotel in Virginia Beach.

Let me ease your fears about the conference theme. You do not have to a member of the Starfleet to attend. You do not even have to know who the Ferengi, Klingon, and Borg are. You just have to want to attend a galactic quality conference, desire to learn lots of valuable information, look forward to sharing great times with your VASFAA colleagues, and participate in making our VASFAA voyage this year a stellar success. We definitely want you to be part of the collective and be fully assimilated into the VASFAA family. You have no choice really since, as the Borg are known to say, "resistance is futile."

The Conference Committee, Training Committee, and Diversity Committee are putting together an outstanding program. There will something at the conference for everyone whether you're an experienced, seasoned aid professional or new to financial aid and VASFAA.

During our general sessions, Harvey Alston, who last year inspired us all with his poignant and entertaining perceptions, returns to bring us a new message on “Getting Down to Business”; United States Congressman Bobby Scott will share with us an “Overview of Moving Forward”; and Ed Spencer will discuss with us the unique nature and requirements of the “Millennium Student”. Harvey Alston will also be presenting a concurrent session on Education Motivation. In addition, we will have a wide variety of concurrent sessions covering many topics of interest from federal updates to personal and professional development. We will also have some fun with a thematic twist on our team building events (you’ll have to attend to find out all the details but you’ll definitely want to be there). We’ll also be doing some things to raise money for Project Discovery. There will definitely be something for everyone at the conference, so don’t miss the blast off.

I have said this before but will say it again and again. VASFAA is what it is because of the people who are part of VASFAA and because of the many people that have stepped forward as volunteers on various VASFAA committees. None of what we have done this year would be possible without the sacrifice of all those who have given of themselves and their time to better the association. I salute you all.

I am very excited about where we’ve been this year; I am equally thrilled knowing that we have many voyages ahead of us on this year’s trek. Let’s set our engines to maximum warp and “ENGAGE!”