Professional-Technical Education Day

Last week I traveled to Boise on Wednesday for training with the Idaho BPA/DECA state officer teams. (I am the coordinator for DECA and officer coordinator for BPA). I stayed at the Grove Hotel for the weekend and then moved hotels to chaperone the other State Officers arriving for the Professional-Technical Education luncheon which was Wednesday.

(Side note: Professional-Technical Education has always been a part of my life since my freshman year of high school. I was the FFA Chapter President, BPA Chapter President and State and National Parliamentarian for BPA. I had the opportunity to intern with the Division of Professional-Technical Education last year for eight months and enjoy working with the group of individuals at the state office.)

Wednesday we had lunch with the House and Senate Education Committees as well as the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee members with First Lady Otter as our guest speaker. She did a great job talking to educators, legislatures and industry about how important PTE is and the impact it has on students--making them more employable based on the real-world experiences they gain through PTE and PTSO (professional-technical student organizations).

After the luncheon, I gave a tour of the newly restored capital to the students that had later flights... the picture here is standing in the middle of the lower level looking up at the dome.

After we completed the tour I took Jestine (one of LC's senators who was representing the Professional-Technical side of the college) to the airport to catch her plane.

Thursday morning I drove home and last night I stayed in Spokane to take my GMAT this morning.

Idaho Student Body Presidents

Last Friday I had the opportunity to travel to Boise to take part in a meeting with the Governor's Staff and visit about the importance of higher education and the continuation of funding to Idaho's High Education Institutions.

In the afternoon I sat down the six of the seven Student Body Presidents in Idaho to discuss the following:

• How are students’ views gathered and used in the decision making process of the administration? i.e. Decisions to build buildings, raise fees, etc

• How has the economic downturn impacted the school in regards to jobs lost, classes dropped, class sizes, etc?

• What is the tenor of the relationship between student government and the administration?

• How does the administration help achieve the goals of the student government and vice versa?

• On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the most, how influential would you say you are with the administration?

• Can you provide the breakdown of how fees and tuition are spent at your school?

The meeting was very productive as we accomplished answering these questions as well as several other that came up during our discussion. We also talked about starting the Idaho Student Association. We are still working on finalizing details for a governing document, however, so far, we have the following:

• "The purpose of the ISA shall be to foster and coordinate communication among our campus student associations to bring about unity in addressing campus and statewide issues affecting our campuses and campus student associations. ISA will not participate in endorsing candidates for public office or particular political parties or philosophies. ISA’s goals shall include, but not be limited to, the empowerment of our State institutions’ students, making public higher education more available and affordable for all Idahoans, pursuing equity in state funding to Idaho’s institutions of higher education, and demanding accountability and integrity from our administrations and public officials. ISA advocacy endeavors shall not extend beyond dealing with issues directly effecting higher education policy."

More information will follow once we have a finalized set of proposed constitution/bylaws.

NIC Day at LCSC

Monday, Andrea Madsen (ASLCSC Vice President) and I traveled to the LCSC Coeur d' Alene office and met with administration from North Idaho College and the University of Idaho to take part and celebrate the collaborative environment that the three institutions have in the general mission of student success.

While we were there, Andrea and I met with the ASLCSC Coeur d' Alene Chairperson (Katie Hardy) and Advisor (Ashley Anderson) to visit about the goals for both the Lewiston and Coeur d' Alene campuses and Student Government's role. (Pictured from right to left is me, President Dr. Dene K. Thomas, Andrea and Katie). The picture was taken during a social event in the evening at Brix in Coeur d' Alene where administration from each institution shared their feelings about our positive environment towards aiding in the success of educating students.

Andrea and I also met with North Idaho College's Student Body President, Jack Vanderlinden, and visited more about the Idaho Student Body Presidents meeting in Boise this November. We are sure this effort will be a success as we will be able to voice the concerns of all students in Idaho's Higher Education Institutions.

October State Board of Education

The year is off to a great start in the Associated Students of Lewis-Clark State College's office. We are working on some exciting projects including: online voting, WarriorLink (E-mail newsletter), Text Messaging system for event notification and more.

This week LCSC hosted the October State Board of Education Meeting in the Williams Conference Center. Before the meetings and after, I had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the other Student Body Presidents in Idaho. (Pictured: from left to right, Kelby Wilson, ASUI President; Trevor Grigg, ASBSU President; Ross Knight, ASISU President; and myself.)

Together we discussed issues that all students in Idaho are facing, the main one being how do we deal with tuition increases and how can we work with Legislature and Administration to maintain the price of education while continuing to receive the level of education and services we have become accustomed to.

In November, we will meet up again to sit down with the Governor's Office and try and voice the concerns of Idaho's Higher Education Students.