“When things go wrong don’t go with them” ~ Elvis Presley

Hello TASFAA Friends!

I hope this email finds you safe and well! I never imagined how much those two little words, safe and well, would be so essential in my lifetime. With so many of our friends and family suffering through sickness and loss, and experiencing so many emotions over the state of our nation, please keep our friends, colleagues, and students in our thoughts and prayers. Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you.

For anyone that does not know me personally, I have been nicknamed Mary Poppins for longer than I can remember by one of my dear colleagues, and it stuck. I see the positive when and wherever possible, almost to a fault. Right now, that positivity is shining brightly from our TASFAA Members that volunteered and participated in so many new ideas that came to fruition! One such idea was our Drive-In to Your Future FAFSA Completion event. With your hard work, we were able to host eighteen FAFSA Drive-In locations across our state, saw over one thousand students to register, and had over one hundred expert volunteers to help them! And that my Friends, is why we are the Volunteer State.

Speaking of Friends, I am so excited to share the work of your conference committee! Your conference committee has been working extremely hard with more meetings than ever before to bring you valuable training that is safe and with respect to your limited resources. This year’s conference theme is... 

I am pleased to announce that the Executive Board voted today to host our annual spring conference via Zoom. The committee has great plans in the works, so save the airing dates! Our pilot episode is scheduled on Monday morning, April 19th, continuing Tuesday, April 20th and concluding with the series finale on Wednesday, April 21st. Hope to see all our FRIENDS there!

With our 2021 annual spring conference going virtual, I am even more thrilled to announce that this year’s conference will be FREE to paid members! Yes, you read that right. Conference number 53 is FREE for our TASFAA Member FRIENDS to attend. Ok, point of clarification is needed. Last year would have been our 52nd annual conference. Historically speaking then, this year, The One After We Skipped 2020, will be our 52nd annual conference, but it just did not rhyme with free. We will notify you via email when your free conference registration is open, so stay tuned. There is still time to join or renew your TASFAA membership if you have not already done so to continue having access to future #TASFAAThursday webinars, as well as the 2021 Virtual Spring Conference. The membership fee remains $35.00.

As you are probably aware, we were able to host some fun and informative opportunities for training and networking that concluded in December with the help of our Sponsorship Partners. Our Sponsorship Partners are amazing, and without their expertise and guidance, our training and professional development would not be possible. With our annual conference going virtual, the Executive Board also voted to offer a one-time 2021 Virtual Conference Sponsorship Opportunity for our Sponsorship Partners. The TASFAA 2021 Virtual Conference Sponsorship is valued at $500.00 with many of the same benefits as before, sans table set-up in a vendor hall. More information will be available on our website soon and will be sent to our Sponsorship Partners from Karyn Allen, Sponsorship Chair. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to Karyn via her email address, allenk@rhodes.edu, with any questions, and/ or interest in being a sponsor.

Thank you, TASFAA Members, for participating in our surveys this year! Your feedback has been invaluable to help understand what our members want and need, especially within our historically low travel and training budgets. The Executive Board has used your feedback in every meeting this year to guide our discussion and decisions, so please know that we appreciate your input.

Finally, we always welcome volunteers. If you are interested in serving, we would love to have you! Nominations for the positions on the TASFAA Executive Board are open until January 13, 2021. If you or someone you know is interested in serving on the board, please email Joe Myers, TASFAA Past-President and Nominations/Elections Chair, jmyers@mscc.edu. You may also volunteer for other areas of service online, or contact any member of the TASFAA Executive Board. All contact information is on our website. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions, as do all the members of the Executive Board. I hope 2021 turns Golden for you, and I cannot wait to see you at our virtual spring conference April 19th- 21st via Zoom!

Health and Peace,

Danette S. Seale, MBA

2020-2021 TASFAA President

Pursue Golden Opportunities

Rise Up & Reach Out

https://tasfaatn.com/

Executive Director of Financial Aid

Carson-Newman University

Tollfree: 800.678.9061

Office: 865.471.3247

Direct: 865.471.3248

Fax: 865.471.2035

"Life is not about negative circumstances that happen to you, it's about what you do with the golden opportunities hidden within!" ~ Rhonda Byrne