Region III and Student Lead On Retreat Day 1

Last week we traveled down to West Lafayette, Indiana to visit Purdue University and meet up with other Region III state directors, student reps, and the Lead On Committee. It was a lovely drive down with some fellow Michigan students, Vince Seelbach (OU) and Margie Wallington (CMU).

Indiana sign! Headed to Purdue @SarahD319 @zumbamargie #region3leadon2015 pic.twitter.com/a2IlpMRZyN
— Vincent Seelbach (@twiterlessvince) July 29, 2014

We got there safely and Vince and Margie explored campus before the Lead On Committee had to meet while I headed down to our Regional Meeting. Our Regional Reps, Dave DeAngelo (OSU) and Jess Adkisson (BSU) started off by describing the NIRSA 2015 venue at the Gaylord Texan.

Talking all things #NIRSA2015 at the Region III Retreat at @PURecSports! @orsanirsa @MIRSArec @IRSA_INDIANA pic.twitter.com/nA3Dq8eUqa
— Illinois IIRSA (@IllinoisIIRSA) July 29, 2014

It's going to be a much more intimate conference since NIRSA will have the entire hotel, and it's only two miles from Grapevine, TX. If you are hoping to host a school or association social, make sure to contact Sierra Smith: sierra@nirsa.org to help organize and get the best deal as soon as possible! More information about the Annual Conference will be coming throughout the year so stay tuned!

Next we talked about our State Workshops and schedules. Dave will be coming up to our state conference this year!
October 8-10: Michigan (CMU) and Wisconsin (UW-Whitewater)
October 15-17: Illinois (UofI)
October 23-24: Indiana (Butler) and Ohio (Cleveland State)

 We then talked about the budget and the need to put together a Scholarship Committee to talk about possibly endowing a Region III Student Scholarship with the NIRSA Foundation or other options for Regional scholarships. If you are interested in chairing or joining this committee, please contact Dave DeAngelo.

Next was a chat about updates and best practices from each state. It was really cool to hear what some of the other state's have been doing and there were quite a few ideas we can implement here in Michigan!

We wrapped up the first day by sprinting to our cars in the pouring rain to head to dinner at a great local pizza place, Bruno's, with the Lead On team.