Spring Break and NASPA

Whew! I apologize for not posting for a while! Spring break happened and a whirlwind of things to catch up afterwards.

So to go off of what my good friend Karla has stated, spring break was wonderful. It was nice to go back to California (even if it was for a few days) and see some of my friends and hang out with family. The weather was great (ranging from mid 70's to 80's). I had forgotten the feeling of wearing shorts and tshirt outside and it felt great! I also had the chance to eat some good food near my hometown. My second half of the spring break was also dedicated to the NASPA conference. I did not go to the The Placement Exchange (TPE) like Karla did but I did attend the conference. I found it to be extremely helpful for those who are new to the field of student affairs.

I attended several sessions and they are all wonderful. I would definitely recommend looking over the events beforehand and choosing a few before going in. Once the conference starts, there are hundreds and hundreds of people walking about the convention center so it will be nice to have a direction of where you are going. Overall though, I found the networking aspect to be the most rewarding part of the conference. I attended two types of reception (Region 6 and API). Region 6 referred to the states specifically in that region (in this case 6 was CA, AZ, and HI) and API stood for Asian and Pacific Islanders. Going to those two receptions and making connections there were in my opinion the main reason why someone would want to come to the conference. It was a time to talk to fellow graduate students or new professionals in the field and gain knowledge about different schools and culture. Then at the end of the day we would exchange business cards and when a job posting comes up in that particular school, now I know at least one person in that university who may be able to connect me with someone else. That to me was Networking 101.

Afterwards I have followed up on several of my contacts and kept in touch with everyone. I am excited to have met so many talented people and am certainly looking forward to getting to know more people in the future!