UAFCS President No More

The Board, outgoing and incoming: back row - Natalie Hancock, Shauna Young, Shelli Barnum, Hollie Evans, Laura Schiers, Troy Chilcott, Mary Lynn, Becky Sagers, Katie Justesen, front row - Melissa Judkins, Lacee Boschetto, me, Rebecca Haacke, Jessica Dredge (not pictured: Chad Gibbs, ShaeLin Nilsen, and Emalee Brown)

It's been a blessing to serve as president of UAFCS. It's also been a ton of work. I was thrown into this position when the president stepped down. I was supposed to have a year of training under her, but I didn't get that. I was told my job was to plan the conference each year, which I did. I've since learned that there is much more that I could have done as president. I could have worked on member recruitment, member retention, and better relations with nationals. I have done my best. If I had another year, I'd do more, but I am done and I'm ok with that. I do plan to write some notes and organize some notes for the future president and other board members. I will leave things better than I found them and hopefully things will continue to improve as the years move along for UAFCS. 

Friday, Mary, Troy, and I had an FCCLA meeting all day. We had worked so hard on planning the conference. I felt that things would go great. Everything was in place and it was going to be great. The only things that would go wrong would be just glitches. The speakers were lined up, food was scheduled, and we even had a great photo wall. 

After yesterday's conference, we did have a board meeting and I'm very encouraged. We already have a plan in place to recruit new members. We have a date and place for the conference so we can mention the conference at both the mid-winter UACTE conference and the June educators' conference. I think those things will help. 

I had a great board to work with. Everyone worked hard. Mary especially worked hard. Her job was to oversee the planning and execution of the conference and it was amazing. There were so many great breakout sessions. The conference theme was "Keep Thinking." Friday we had an awards dinner and learned about dipping chocolates and did a service project. It was excellent. We had yummy Greek food and had a great time chatting with friends that we only see at conferences. I had friends that won awards. Monica Milburn, who was a TA and now teaches, won an award. Jean Manuela, who I've known for decades, also won an award. Emily Burdette, my TA, won an award for outstanding FCS college student. Rebecca Haacke, who is now our UAFCS president, also earned an award. All were so deserving. Oh, and I gave some remarks as president. I woke up one day last week with thoughts on exactly what I could say and I'm pleased with what I shared. I really don't care what others thought of it. It was from my heart and what I wanted to share. 

Shelli Barnum, Monica Milburn, and me

I have loved and admired Jean Manuela for decades

So glad to know Melissa

Meet your new UAFCS president, Rebecca

Emily Burdette

I talked about how our founder, Ellen Swallow Richards, ended correspondence with the words "Keep thinking." We come from a long line of thinkers. She didn't say "Start thinking" or "get thinking" or "think better," so I shared examples of thinking that I've seen. I shared how FCS professionals think on their feet, think outside the box, and think big. I encouraged us all to keep doing what we are doing because we are great. 

BYU FCSE. Back row: I don't know this student, Maile Fisher, Natalie Hancock, Sarah Boyd, me, Emily Napierski, Grace Hadfield, Emily Burdette, Jolynn Holt. Front row: Sierra Young, Morgan Johnson, Abigail Jenson, Michaela Christensen, Nicole Lauper

Saturday we had a keynote speaker, then had breakout sessions from 10 - noon. Lunch was great and Lacee Boschetto from BYU led us in excellent discussions at our tables. Then we had more breakouts from 1-3.  I really enjoyed the sessions I went to. Laurie Hatch, who used to live in Livermore and was a YW leader at girls camp when I was a young woman, presented a session on mental health. She helped us reframe our thoughts when things don't go as planned. If anyone knows about that, it's Laurie. She got married at 17. By age 33, she had 6 boys and her husband had decided he wasn't interested in being married. Her best friend also died. That's when she started college. She has since earned her masters and has been an FCS Department Chair at a college in California. She is one of mom's heroes. 

Me and Laurie Hatch

Annie Oswald presented in the afternoon. She joined us for lunch and the discussions at lunch. She really enjoyed herself. Then she came the the pasta making class that my TAs and I taught. I reached out the the FCS students who took the pasta making class with me in Florence to see if they wanted to teach with me. With 6 helpers, we had a great time. We had 16 participants in the first session and 8 in the second session. Everyone seemed to have fun. I snuck out during the second session, leaving everyone in the able hands of my students, and enjoyed some of Annie's session on determining your destiny. She walked the participants through designing a mission statement. What I heard was excellent and we will ask her to present in our February conference. 

Discussion at lunch

I left Jordan High School in Sandy around 5:00 pm and was home by 6:00 pm. It was a great conference. We got many comments on how much people enjoyed the conference. It's a small conference with about 90 - 110 awesome attendees.