It is with great pleasure that I pass the Presidency to Shannon Faber, the former Secretary of the 2017/18 ASID UCLA Extension Student Chapter. It feels great that she had a positive experience and wants to stay on, along with 4 others of our 2017/18 Board Members! It makes me feel like we did something right, and I am proud of how our board really came together as friends to make these last few months extra enjoyable.
There are a lot of great accomplishments from the year, but some specific ones stand out:
- We moved all the finances into a legitimate tax ID account that can easily be passed on to future boards indefinitely.
- We secured Behr Paint as a digital sponsorship to maintain our technology needs and digital presence. Having numerous email addresses and a website adds up to thousands of dollars per year in peripheral fees, with expenses that are self-funded by our chapter - so this was huge!
- We surpassed our new membership goals, boasting a 50% increase in total chapter members.
- We raised the most money in our chapter history for our Community Service Project, just over $18,000, and had the highest attendance to Mix It Up! in all 12 years, with over 150 tickets sold.
- We had a lovely VIP tour of The Bullocks Wilshire Building - typically only given once a year to an outside group, but we pulled strings and pushed hard to make it happen especially for us.
- And most amazing to me was watching the board come together to execute a fabulous Mix It Up! fundraising event. Everyone was helpful, supportive and really fun to work with. Mr. C Hotel Beverly Hills has been so good to us - and I think we are all proud of what we pulled off!
Speaking of Mr. C - I'll also gladly take the credit for moving our monthly board meetings from the UCLA classroom to Mr. C Beverly Hills, and (most recently) poolside! So if you ever want to come to one of our meetings, you might want to pack your swimsuit ;).
I'd like to thank
Shepard Vineburg
for his support and positivity as our Faculty Advisor. He is truly dedicated, and without him, things would fall apart! So thank you for being you, navigating our course, and always providing entertaining anecdotes along the way. I'd like to thank the wonderful board members from my term:
Olivia Wetterau, Shannon Faber, Alyson Bender, Lacey Easton, Tara Knight, Leah Ferrante, Andrew Brick, Andrea Ables, Bennett McCord, Anisha Vasandani, Allison Margetson Shields
- these are exceptional people that stayed dedicated, and are honestly the star students in our program. Please keep your ear to the ground about them, and follow their career paths. As a peer - I know I will be staying in touch, because I was so impressed with all of them. I'd also like to stick in a huge thank you to
Rocky LaFleur
. We all know him as the B.M.O.C., but he took us under his wing and has been so incredibly supportive and kind to me this year. I don't think our hugely successful PDC event would have happened without him, and personally - I would not have even considered going to Paris Design Week if he hadn't been so warm and welcoming from the beginning. He hugely deserves his recognition coming later this month, and I wanted everyone to know that he is the real deal (like you didn't know!). For students reading- seek out people like this in the industry, and cherish them.
This opportunity for me has meant a lot of personal growth. How to better manage expectations, lead by example, and motivate people in creative ways. All things I will take with me into my professional career.
I have ALWAYS felt a huge sense of support for ASID from everyone in the industry, and everyone consistently says to stay involved. So as my one bit of parting advice to any students reading - SHOW UP. Utilize this organization - you paid for it - so get the most out of it. Meet people, network, go to events. Be nice, stay open, and say yes. If I can do it, you can do it.
I look forward to seeing what the 2018/19 board will do, and seeing all of you at their events!
Highest Regards,
Maria Matis Kennedy
