79 Days of Gratitude & Thanks: Day 18 - Missouri College Personnel Association

Last August, I had an incredible opportunity presented to me. I had spent the better part of the previous three years away from professional development opportunities and professional associations simply because I was in a new job and was a new parent. Time and balance were my enemy. However, last summer I decided it was time to jump back in. These kinds of experiences are very important in my profession and I had settled into parenthood and directing a department - so it was time. An email had gone out looking for conference volunteers for the Missouri College Personnel Association (MoCPA) fall conference. The Vice-President that I report to was actually the association President and a former boss had been the association President just a few years back. These are both women that I admire and respect so I knew this could be a good group to join. I answered the email and say "hey, I'm interested. Sign me up." As it turned out, a few weeks later the conference chair took another position at another school in ANOTHER state. And as you can imagine - there are some obstacles to running a state conference when you have moved to South Carolina. The other obstacle - the conference was about 10 weeks away and there was A LOT still left to be done! Fast forward a few days later after a conversation with my VP and I was the new annual conference chair! To say the very least, the following eight weeks were stressful! But, I was amazed at how I was able to rally the planning committee and how, collectively, we were able to make some magic happen! As I was preparing the for the conference, I kept hoping for an opportunity to led the conference again the following year (2011). My sense of satisfaction was really high and I had a strong desire to see what I could accomplish with an entire year! Thankfully, I was offered the position again and jumped on the opportunity immediately. As I lead the conference team this year, I am already blown away by our accomplishments and we are still 6 months away from the actual event. This Association has helped me bring my professional life back to life! I'm challenged in a different way than I'm challenged at my actual job. I get to use my passion & skill set for event planning, creating curriculum, creating learning opportunities and leading a team. It's done tremendous things for my self esteem and has helped reinforce to myself that I am good at my job!