State Updates...
Idaho State Update
Cheryl Anderson, IASFAA President
www.isu.edu/departments/finaid/stdiasf.htm

Our fall conference in breathtaking Northern Idaho was just that-breathtaking! The weather was mild, and the trees were in a full array of autumn colors. It was just a great time of the year to be out networking with our colleagues from all over the state.

We had an incredible keynote speaker by the name of Rob Spear. Rob has his own consulting firm called Deliberate Directions which provides workshops, speakers, and consulting on how to enhance our lives, the lives of others, and relationships within families, schools, and the workplace. Rob has one key, pivotal message: We must understand the importance of bringing value to ourselves… because only then can we bring value to other relationships. His presentation was not only enlightening, but entertaining as well. Doug Severs, WASFAA president, gave a presentation on leadership opportunities, NELA and Direct Loan folks gave updates on the loan programs, NELA also did a session on debt management/default aversion, and the final presentation of the day was by Jacqueline Brathwaite, our state diversity chairman, on "Tonto and Kimosabe."

The two-hour river cruise luncheon on the Spokane River was a hit, the food was good, and the sunshine was heavenly. It did, however, make it hard to go back to the afternoon sessions. The evening preceding the conference, a group of us went to the Coeur d'Alene Casino for dinner and a little gambling. The second evening following a wonderful prime rib dinner, we held an auction to raise money for WASFAA scholarships for members who have never attended a WASFAA conference or training. James Martin was the auctioneer and our dear newsletter co-editor, the beautiful Becky Cady acted as our "Vanna White" showing off all the baskets that the schools and vendors had brought to be sold. We had a lot of fun and raised $500.