Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/340001
I would like to thank my SWEA members for voting for me again to represent you as the Statewide SWEA President. I really enjoyed serving last year as your president. I not only grew as a student, but also as a person. I have learned a lot by being a part of the NEA/WEA family and have met a lot of great people. My main goal for this year is to keep increasing our membership. Last year we won two awards. The first was a bronze medal from the NEA student program for increasing our membership during the months of February and March. We also won an award at WEA Delegate Assembly in April for increasing our membership during the "Grab Three" campaign. Let's keep this trend growing! The last thing I want to share with you is that I have been asked to be a part of a nationwide teleconference with the Government Accountability Office on May 20, 2014, regarding the loan forgiveness program for teachers and the "Degrees Not Debt" campaign. I look forward to sharing any information that I receive from this teleconference. Thank you for this great opportunity. by SWEA President Brandi Dearcorn Project Easter Bunny As the new president of the University of Wyoming's SWEA chapter, I, Sara Richter, am honing in on raising our membership numbers. In order to obtain funding for activities that would raise awareness of SWEA both in Laramie and the surrounding communities as well as throughout the student body at the University, we applied for the NEA SOAR grant. The ultimate purpose of the grant activities will be to increase our membership. We received the grant for the spring semester and have used the funds for meeting purposes and for the following activities. On March 3, 2014, some of the members of SWEA went to the elementary schools in Laramie and read Dr. Seuss books to commemorate his birthday and celebrate Read Across America. On March 4, we helped at the Lab School in the College of Education with their celebration for Dr. Seuss's birthday. At the Lab School, we read, made hats, and ate green eggs and ham with the students. All of the members who participated had a great time in the schools and were very excited to celebrate with the students. On March 4 th and 5 th SWEA partnered up with Kappa Delta Pi, an education honorary, to participate in Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society and Jackalope Jump for the Wyoming Special Olympics. Relay for Life was such a fun event; we walked, played volleyball, danced, and had a scavenger hunt, along with many other fun activities. On Saturday morning, we went to LaPrele Pond and swam across the freezing cold pond. After our swim, we warmed up and went to rest up after the long weekend. Relay for Life and Jackalope Jump are both fundraisers for their organizations. As a team, we raised $925 for Relay for Life and $105 for Jackalope Jump. College of Education Interim Dean Day has also asked SWEA and other organizations within the College of Education to help organize a get-together for all incoming freshmen next fall. Dean Day would like us to help organize a dinner with a Q and A for all of the College of Education's incoming freshmen. This will also be a great opportunity to recruit new members for SWEA. This semester has flown by but we accomplished as much as possible. Under new leadership, I feel we have made great strides and hope as a group to accomplish much more in the coming semesters. SWEA UW Chapter SUMMER 2014 | WEAnews 14 Students at Davis Elementary in Cheyenne collected donations of clothes, school supplies and games for Project Easter Bunny. Lisa Esquibel's kindergarten class helped Sierra Hills Assisted Living Community with the assembly of the Easter baskets that were then donated to children in need throughout the community. ICI WEA.indd 16 6/26/14 3:21 PM