We bring you another blog post from a Summit attendee, this one from Bethany Bowles, one of our student members.
Since this is my second STC Summit and last year was spectacular, I confess I came with high expectations. I was filled with excitement on the plane trip from Orlando. Granted, the torrential downpour on Saturday evening almost put a damper on my mood. After slogging from the airport, I was welcomed by familiar faces. I would like to apologize to all of the friendly people I drenched with my soggy hugs. After wringing out my coat, I attended the President’s Leadership Reception at the Hyatt.
Despite being severely bedraggled, I enjoyed seeing the many committed, creative, and talented volunteers and staff being honored for their hard work. I joined other members of the Community Affairs Committee (lovingly referred to as the “CAC” which rhymes with “back”) in crowning our leader, Tricia Spayer, with her well-deserved tiara. Although she is turning the CAC over to the inimitable Ben Woelk this coming year, Tricia will always be our queen. Also, if you see Tricia tiara-less you must notify Ben!
Bright and early Sunday morning, I arrived at Leadership Day. Starting off, Cindy Pao’s icebreaker got us all to mingle and identify our STC rock stars. Once again, my home community, the Orlando Central Florida chapter, was announced as a Community of Distinction. I am looking forward to trotting up onstage with the other Orlando members to receive our award at tomorrow’s awards banquet.
I took part in two presentations for a total of five rotations along with my mentor, the indescribable Dan Voss, and our co-presenters, Sally Henschel and Anna Lerew-Philips. We are thrilled with the warm reception of our presentation on “Harnessing Student Power to Jet-Propel Your Community,” particularly with the interest in Sally Henschel’s project, the MentorBoard. After running a successful pilot this spring pairing students working on topics for STC’s Body of Knowledge, Sally now has the MentorBoard up and running. While we have focused on student-practitioner pairings in our Student Outreach initiative, the MentorBoard is open to STC members at any stage of their careers.
Even taking into account the weather, this year’s Summit has met and exceeded my expectations! While so much has happened since Leadership Day, I will have to catch you up on that later today. As well as attending sessions, I am busily serving as the Assistant Student Volunteer Coordinator. I cannot thank Nathaniel Lim, this year’s coordinator, enough for this opportunity.