I'm so excited to wrote this blog and tell you all about HECMA 2019! I'm currently sitting in the airport, headed back to Atlanta after a great (yet exhausting) week! In this blog, I'm going to discuss some of the many observations and thoughts I've made this week. For more of a day-to-day overview of the conference, please check out the conference page.
My Observations
This is a great place for collaboration and networking, in the best way. People are so nice and genuinely want to assist other professionals and institutions in improving their case management (clinical & non-clinical) practices.
Professionalism on all fronts is important because it impacts the way the attendees experience your conference. Being able to prepare significantly beforehand, as well as being flexible and expectant for last minute emergencies and changes, is the best way to handle coordinating a conference of this size.
Much can be learned from observing, talking with, and assisting Leadership Team members on their projects.
Organizing a conference takes time, effort, and a significant amount of teamwork. I will never be able to attend any conference again without thinking and thanking the conference committee and leadership team members. Their work can sometimes go unnoticed but nothing would be possible without them.
Take time to rest & know your own needs! I definitely learned I need to be able to have a few moments to myself, every once in a while at conference such as this one!
My Favorite Conference Session
There is no doubt that my favorite conference session was the opening keynote by Dr. Alfiee. She began her session by reminding attendees of the importance of taking care of ourselves before we can take care of our students. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to say "no". Touching on the history of HECMA, she emphasized the importance of remaining surrounded by a community of peers who are linked together, as we advance our field.
The second half of her presentation, she discussed the importance of addressing the mental health of students of color. Data showed that over 1/4 of students of color on PWI campuses feel they do not fit in. The question she encouraged us to ponder was "How can we help students in developing their own coping skills?"
Dr. Alfiee closed out her presentation with having each attendee write down one word to commit to for the next year. We only had about 10 seconds to write this word, so naturally you were to write the first word that came to mind. On the count of 3, all the attendees raised their words in the air. It was truly an empowering moment and a great way to start the conference!
My New (& Old) Friends
Conferences are always fun places to reconnect with old friends, and meet new ones! This year I had the joy of reconnecting with my friend Megan Higginbotham, who I met when I interned at Texas A&M. Meg now works in case management and now we get to share experiences, such as at HECMA!
Additionally, I was able to get to know all the members of the leadership team & even some of the past LT members. It's really neat to meet professionals from across the nation, who hold various positions at their universities!
My Biggest Takeaway
My biggest take away from this conference is my confidence and excitement about pursuing the field of Higher Education Case Management! It's crazy to think of all the things that have changed in the last year. I could have never imagined I would be interning for a national organization like HECMA, but I am so excited this is where I ended up. It's truly been such a neat, challenging, and rewarding experience & I look forward to what the rest of the summer holds.
I hope this is one of many HECMA conferences I will be able to attend and I look forward to reconnecting with many of the people I met next year in Portland!
That's all for now! I'm going to nap & try and recover! Heading back to Winston-Salem soon! Stay tuned for more updates!