My Last Conference: See You Later, MSUSAers

Earlier this evening, I returned from my last MSUSA conference as a student. We calculated it today, and in the past five years I have attended:

• 26 Conferences and Board Meetings
• 4 Lobby Days
• 2 Cultural Diversity Conferences
• 3 DC Summits

That's just the "big" stuff. Along the way there have also been things like Internal Affairs meetings, scholarship dinners and a golf scramble.

When I first began going to conferences, I never dreamed this association would become such a huge part of my life. Then in my junior year, Julie asked me about being Campus Rep...even at that point I had been to more conferences than most of the senate and I knew what was going on. She was worried about me being both a Chair and CR, so I took the job on a trial basis...it became permanent soon after and I kept that position for a total of 2.5 years under three different Presidents.

Going into this year I knew I would only be able to do the CR job for fall because of the demands of student teaching this spring. I figured the end of the semester would mark the end of my involvement, until I was convinced by Cody on the way home from Fall Conference that I should run for the At-Large board position that remained vacant. As usual, he had good arguments so I said I'd run if nominated...of course he did so the next day, I went through the election in December and became a board member.

As we had lunch today with a number of others before leaving Marshall, Cody asked me what my favorite memory was. It's hard to pick just one....there are so many things that stand out. Among them:

• Karaoke night in Moorhead, July 2006
• My first experience as a Board Proxy in December 2004...a fish out of water
• Both At-Large Director elections I took part in...ohhh the nerves!
• My parents' nickname for the old Como office...they said it looked from the outside like I was interning in a crack house.
• Early morning drives to St Cloud with Jake for Internal Affairs meetings.
• "Car dancing", also known as me getting my groove on to whatever upbeat music was played on our long drives from Bemidji...in recent times Cody's collection of teen pop.
  
• The Internship experience-- this past summer spent working with our officers and staff was great.
  

I was asked several times this weekend: "Will you miss it?" and "How does it feel that this is your last conference?" In truth I am not sure how it feels...I was in kind of a strange mood, rather melancholy. But I don't think it's hit me yet that I will never again sit at a table in Delegate Assembly or as a Board Member...that the next time I stop by an MSUSA event, it will be as an alumni visitor rather than a participating student.

It has been an amazing experience and I truly believe there is only more good to come from the association. Will I miss the work and the people? Yes. But I do have the advantage of planning to remain in Minnesota for the time being, and you can bet that I will be a supportive alum and stay in touch with folks. I closed my comments at this morning's Board meeting with the same phrase Julie used when she left Bemidji for NYC...

"It's not goodbye, it's see you later"