I just returned home from our Fall WACA Board Meeting in Vancouver. Our March conference is looking better and better every day! As a reminder, the conference will be held March 9-11, 2016 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, WA. If you’re not certain what to expect, here is a link to the trailer for the conference: http://www.wacaonline.org/conference-2016.html
Registration is live for anyone planning on using a PO and for those using a credit card, registration will be available no later than Oct. 5th. I don’t know about you, but I’ve already submitted my substitute request and travel documents. I can’t wait! Last year Area 6 had 38 people at the conference. Our goal is 43 this year. So spread the word, get your team together and let’s have a huge showing from our area.
The official conference hotels are the Springhill Suites (newly opened and connected to the Convention Center) and Hilton Garden Inn. Both are accepting reservations for the conference at this time. The rooms at the Springhill Suites are just as they sound, suites. Several people will be able to share a room if that is of interest to you. What a great way to save some money!
Nominations for the Hall of Fame are open now as well and the nomination forms have been updated to make things quick and easy. If you know someone who has given a great deal to leadership and students in our state, take a minute and fill out the application. We have many worthy people who deserve to be recognized. Nominations can be done at http://www.wacaonline.org/hall-of-fame-application.html
And, as always, we are looking for a few experts, in other words…YOU, to present at the conference. If you have created an event, seen great success in a particular fundraising activity, or simply have a great classroom lesson, we want to see it! We are in need of both 50-minute sessions and 10-minute Meet the Pros sessions. I know how incredibly talented you all are, so please consider sharing your expertise with others! If you’re interested, please go to http://www.wacaonline.org/presenter-application.html to submit a description of your workshop.
If you are interested in being a part of the WACA Board, there are several positions open this year – Technology Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, President-Elect, Middle Level Representatives, and Areas 2, 4, 6, and 8. Consider being a part of the board and sharing your knowledge!
Also, if you have a great Partner (vendor) you use in the area that you think might be interested in having a booth at the conference, please shoot me an email with their contact information. We are always looking for new vendors and they get great exposure!
I know we are all desperately looking for new fundraisers to replace the many we lost as a result of the changes to nutrition guidelines. I have two from another activities director in Central Washington:
Cutie Clause – instead of selling candy cane grams, last year students bought Cutie oranges, mini Santa hats, and google eyes and sent out fun little holiday cards to kids.
Cocoa Café – each February they transform their cafeteria into a “coffee shop” for the night and invite students and staff to share their talents. It is not judged and they give out free hot cocoa to those who are in attendance. They also sell pastries (outside of school hours J). The show is a hit and they make a good profit because there is very little overhead.
These are just a couple examples of what you can learn if you come to the conference.
Here is a link to a great video on the WACA video library. It is called “Can We Auto-Correct Humanity.” It can be used as a great way to show we all want to belong (as in the third tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy), but sometimes social media gives us a false sense of belonging. In addition to having a great message, it’s a great example of a spoken-word poem for all of you English teachers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ
One last thing - if you know someone who should be receiving this email, please email me their address and I'll get them on the list.
I hope your September was great!
Susie Bennett
Selah Middle School
Leadership Teacher/District Culture Coordinator
WACA Area 6 Representative
Registration is live for anyone planning on using a PO and for those using a credit card, registration will be available no later than Oct. 5th. I don’t know about you, but I’ve already submitted my substitute request and travel documents. I can’t wait! Last year Area 6 had 38 people at the conference. Our goal is 43 this year. So spread the word, get your team together and let’s have a huge showing from our area.
The official conference hotels are the Springhill Suites (newly opened and connected to the Convention Center) and Hilton Garden Inn. Both are accepting reservations for the conference at this time. The rooms at the Springhill Suites are just as they sound, suites. Several people will be able to share a room if that is of interest to you. What a great way to save some money!
Nominations for the Hall of Fame are open now as well and the nomination forms have been updated to make things quick and easy. If you know someone who has given a great deal to leadership and students in our state, take a minute and fill out the application. We have many worthy people who deserve to be recognized. Nominations can be done at http://www.wacaonline.org/hall-of-fame-application.html
And, as always, we are looking for a few experts, in other words…YOU, to present at the conference. If you have created an event, seen great success in a particular fundraising activity, or simply have a great classroom lesson, we want to see it! We are in need of both 50-minute sessions and 10-minute Meet the Pros sessions. I know how incredibly talented you all are, so please consider sharing your expertise with others! If you’re interested, please go to http://www.wacaonline.org/presenter-application.html to submit a description of your workshop.
If you are interested in being a part of the WACA Board, there are several positions open this year – Technology Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, President-Elect, Middle Level Representatives, and Areas 2, 4, 6, and 8. Consider being a part of the board and sharing your knowledge!
Also, if you have a great Partner (vendor) you use in the area that you think might be interested in having a booth at the conference, please shoot me an email with their contact information. We are always looking for new vendors and they get great exposure!
I know we are all desperately looking for new fundraisers to replace the many we lost as a result of the changes to nutrition guidelines. I have two from another activities director in Central Washington:
Cutie Clause – instead of selling candy cane grams, last year students bought Cutie oranges, mini Santa hats, and google eyes and sent out fun little holiday cards to kids.
Cocoa Café – each February they transform their cafeteria into a “coffee shop” for the night and invite students and staff to share their talents. It is not judged and they give out free hot cocoa to those who are in attendance. They also sell pastries (outside of school hours J). The show is a hit and they make a good profit because there is very little overhead.
These are just a couple examples of what you can learn if you come to the conference.
Here is a link to a great video on the WACA video library. It is called “Can We Auto-Correct Humanity.” It can be used as a great way to show we all want to belong (as in the third tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy), but sometimes social media gives us a false sense of belonging. In addition to having a great message, it’s a great example of a spoken-word poem for all of you English teachers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ
One last thing - if you know someone who should be receiving this email, please email me their address and I'll get them on the list.
I hope your September was great!
Susie Bennett
Selah Middle School
Leadership Teacher/District Culture Coordinator
WACA Area 6 Representative