What Happened in Anchorage and Who Attended?
by Cub Reporter Se'epa Fa'aso-Noa,
American Samoa Community College

The WASFAA 2000 Conference's opening ceremony was held at the Hilton Anchorage Ballroom, and there were about 476 members that attended: school officials, lenders, and others. We have members from the Lower 48 and Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Pacific Islands. Of these 476 members, four that attended were EDAC -Ethnic Diversity Action Committee-Scholarship recipients: Gloria, Lucy, Jacqueline, and Se'epa.

The presenters at the Conference were very enthusiastic. The members that were able to attend left Anchorage with more knowledge about the changes and updates with the Student Financial Aid Programs. Sessions were held for about an hour-long each. At the same time, we had the privilege to meet with Lenders, which provided the WASFAA members with masses of information that can be useful in the day-to-day operation of each office and institution. In addition to the informative sessions that we had, we also got to enjoy some of the beauty in Anchorage. To end it with the Anchorage view, we had dinner on the train on our final night of the Conference. It was a blast... we all had fun.

EDAC SCHOLARSHIP and the MVP: Marsha Dupree
EDAC Scholarships are a tremendous help to WASFAA members that are unfortunate with whatever his/her institution's travel budget may be. As an example, if it were not for the EDAC scholarship, I would not be able to attend the WASFAA 2000 Conference in Anchorage, Alaska. I have to admit that it was my first time to a WASFAA Conference and I was very happy, blessed, and honored for such a great privilege to attend. Marsha Dupree, with her e-mail, was very helpful, especially for someone in the South Pacific Islands trying to communicate with someone in the United States. Marsha and her e-mail kept me (and I'm pretty sure the other three EDAC Scholarship winners) on-track and up-to-date with all the information that was needed to make it to Anchorage safely. I know that in addition to Marsha's daily job duties, she had an additional load for a couple of months for the WASFAA Conference. I looked forward to Marsha's e-mail keeping me posted about when my airline tickets should have been arriving.

A Thank You to the EDAC Committee Members:
I would like to thank all of you for your efforts and commitment in continuing to support and offered EDAC Scholarships annually. The EDAC Scholarship has offered me an honorable opportunity to attend a WASFAA Conference that I would not have been able to attend. I know institutions' policies and procedures are different and sometimes limited travel budgets for financial aid staff, but with the help of the EDAC scholarship that eased up the load and made it possible for a WASFAA member like me to attend. Therefore, I would like for the EDAC to continue offering help like EDAC Scholarships, so that more WASFAA members will have an opportunity like I had, to experience the training of a WASFAA Conference, Institute, and all the other benefits that the EDAC and WASFAA offer.

To the EDAC funding committee - thank you for all your hard work and for soliciting money from every avenue possible so that other EDAC Scholarship 2000 winners and I would be able to attend this annual conference. Thanks to the EDAC members for all their hard work and collaborative efforts in making the EDAC funds available for the scholarship. May God bless each and every one of you. Farewell to our dear EDAC member that will be retiring this year: Mary. Special thanks to: Leonard, Jannine, Laurie, Farron, Dr. Jones, Marsha, Ted, Wendy, and Mary. In addition, thanks to my dear colleagues/scholarship winners and especially my roommate, Jacqueline Brathwaite, for the team efforts in various activities and sessions. Looking forward to seeing you all again. God bless.