ACUHO-I News Blog

When I was a young(er) professional, it was role modeled for me that I should give back to my profession. My supervisor in my first professional position was serving as GLACUHO president as I entered the field. I saw other entry-level staff volunteering on committees and hosting student staff conferences. Mentors made it clear to me that identifying my talents and skills was important and, most important, was determining how I could use them to assist within my department, division, university, and professional organizations.

As I’ve grown in the field, I’ve been fortunate to have opportunities to serve that combined my skills, talent, and passion. Writing is an important piece of who I am; the opportunity to blog for ACUHO-I and several other professional blogs is an easy, fun way to contribute. I love social media; volunteering to teach people how to utilize Twitter at the conference was an engaging volunteer opportunity. Making connections and meeting new people is important to me; volunteering at registration was a good use of my time on Saturday morning.

Throughout the conference as I was thanked for things like those mentioned above, I noted that my reaction was almost always surprise. I’m surprised that people thank me for what I consider to be the opportunities given to me. I feel like I should be thanking them in turn (and often do) for what’s been given to me as a vehicle of professional and personal growth. I’m appreciative of these opportunities – they’ve helped me both expand and define who I am in our field.

I wrote last week about the 362 days a year that members of ACUHO-I aren’t at the Annual Conference and Exposition. I encouraged all of us – whether we attended ACE or not – to make the most of those 362 days and stay connected to our association. I’m taking my own challenge and intend to spend Day One demonstrating my gratitude by using time on the flight home from ACE to write thank you notes to the people who give me opportunities.

How will you spend Day One?