WyASFAA followed Route 66 through an informative conference program April 25th and 26th, 2019 in Casper, WY. We had a great turnout with 36 attendees. Of these, four were first-time attendees and for the first-time in a while we had two Vendors and sponsors – ELM Resources and KHEAA. We also welcomed our new to us Federal Student Aid trainer David Bartlett.

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As in years past, the conference followed our annual Hathaway Scholarship and our Financial Aid Director’s meeting that were held on April 24th. During both these meetings we discussed legislative changes that pertained to Hathaway and the Wyoming Works program. We also discussed the new approval for community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees and the challenges with data security that we are all facing. We were fortunate to have Cory Daly, Vice President for Student Affairs at Central Wyoming College join us for our directors meeting.

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The conference started its journey on Thursday morning with an ice breaker, a conference favorite. This year Brenda Haseman (Northern Wyoming Community College District, Sheridan) led us through a lego building challenge. Each person had a secret role and set of instructions they had to follow. No talking was allowed as each table attempted to build a structure out of a bag of legos. Needless to say, getting a room full of communicators to stop talking was quite the site!

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Special Agent Sandra Ennis from the Denver ED-OIG office gave us an update on Financial Aid fraud. She was followed by our RMASFAA President, Myra Pfannenstiel who took us on a road of RMASFAA updates.

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David Bartlett gave us the federal update which is always full of good information. Rob Smith, with ELM Resources and first-time presenter gave us a great presentation on “How to Communicate with Gen Z Students”. I think a lot of us were amazed by some of the data that was shared! Much different than the golden times of traveling Route 66 without cell phones!

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Myra Pfannenstiel gave us another presentation full of customer service skills we could all take back to our schools. Kelcie McBride (Eastern Wyoming College) discussed “Pit Stops and Road Rage – Conflict Management” with the group. From there, David was back to go over some SULA issues.

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The first day of the conference ended with our banquet at Yellowstone Garage. Shannon Eskam (Casper College) passed the tomahawk aka gavel to incoming WyASFAA President Scott McFarland (Central Wyoming College). Heidi Balster (Northern Wyoming Community College District – Sheridan) is the new Treasurer, Lacey Shandera (Laramie Wyoming Community College) is the new Secretary, Nicole Castillion (Western Wyoming Community College) is the President-Elect and Sean McGivney (KHEAA) is our Affiliate Member Delegate.

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Friday was the last day of the conference and began with a program review presentation from David. Shelby Garner (Casper College) then led the group in a round-table discussion on FAFSA completion best practices. From feedback from last year’s conference, there was a request to talk about homeless youth. The conference committee was fortuante to have Greta Hinderliter, Natrona County McKinney Vento Homeless Youth liaison and John O’Connor, Natrona County School District College Selection Facilitator join Shannon and Susan Stephenson (Eastern Wyoming College) on a McKinney Vento Panel. Scott concluded our presentations with a SAP overview.

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Like last year, WyASFAA selected a philanthropy project with this year’s organization being the SAFE Project in Laramie, WY. WyASFAA donated $160 in cash and $150 in Walmart gift cards along with brooms, mops, assorted cleaning supplies, paper towels, etc.

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The conference ended our trip with our annual Business Meeting during which we discussed past and present goals. We were able to update our mission this year and future goals are to possibly re-establish our Wyoming High School Counselor workshops as part of our commitment to financial literacy and building relationships. We have such a wonderful group of people in our state and we can’t wait to see what the next year as in store!

 

Submitted by Shannon Eskam

WyASFAA Past-President