ACSD 2006: June 5-8

Two days after we returned to Michigan, we drove down to Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana for the 2006 national conference of the Association of Christians in Student Development (ACSD). This was my 9th conference and Andrew's 3rd and was another excellent time of professional & spiritual renewal. Each year, anywhere from 4-600 Student Affairs professionals gather on the campus of a Christian university for professional development, recruiting, networking, and a lot of fun. I've come to love these conferences as they not only remind me why I love doing what I do, but give me new ideas for how to do my job more effectively.

This year was a busy one as I was doing some major recruiting for the open RD (Resident Director) position on my staff, as well as presenting with my colleague Casey at one of the workshops.

Kim & Jody from Multnomah Bible College talking about life as an RD

Casey is on my staff here at LCC as the Intercultural Programs Coordinator. He & I presented a workshop on ways to educate students to identify and suspend their personal biases in order to be more effective leaders. There are 4 different workshop sessions throughout the week, each with approximately 15 different workshops for attendees to choose from. We were thrilled to have nearly 30 people in attendance at ours, and had some pretty lively dialogue.

One special element to this year's conference was that my parents, Buz & Barb, drove down to Marion & stayed in an apartment with us to babysit Ieva while we participated in the conference. It was the first time in my life as a mom that I literally left before Ieva woke up, came back only long enough to nurse her during the day, and then came back at night after she had gone to bed. That part of it was not fun for me...but her Grandma & Grandpa LOVED it!! They really enjoyed all the concentrated Ieva-time they got, and by the time the week was over had her drinking water from a cup and crawling with relative speed! It worked out so perfectly for all of us that we're already planning on doing it again next year when ACSD will be hosted in Minnesota!