Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/618006
Winter 2015 | WEAnews 6 Your WEA At Work Here's How It Works: A total of five free WEA membership dues (one per region) will be awarded at the 2016 Delegate Assembly. Completed new membership forms must be received at the WEA office with your name in the "Recruited By" section at the bottom of the form, to be included in the drawing for your region. For every three new members you recruit, your name will be entered once. There is no limit! You will only be entered into the drawing for new members recruited from November 15th through March 31st. Any previous members you have recruited will not be included in the drawing. This only applies to your WEA dues. 2016-2017 NEA and local dues will still need to be paid by you. *New members must continue their membership through the 2016-2017 year for you to be eligible. Grab 3 New Members And Your Name Will Be Included In A Regional Drawing For Free 2016-2017 WEA Membership Dues Heather Kreiling - Glenrock Education Association I received free dues for this year all because of a little work. I simply brought donuts for all staff one morning. As they were grabbing their donuts, I gave them some information and talked to them about the benefits of being part of such a wonderful organization. Those that took information or sounded somewhat interested I gave them the form to fill out to become a member. I then followed up with them to see what questions they had for me and if they needed help filling out the paperwork. I signed up 3 with no problem. Michael Hays - Cheyenne Teachers Education Association I have been the building representative in my building for several years now, and I take very seriously the responsibility of recruiting new members. I think that it is important for every professional to be part of the association that provides so many opportunities. I have been fortunate enough to participate in the Student Learning Objectives Cohort for two years now, and the instruction that I have received in this program has made me a much better teacher. Additionally, I also try to inform new teachers that it is possible to save some of the money that we spend on membership dues. Thus, in approaching members to join the Wyoming Education Association, I always make it a point to let potential members know about the NEA Click and Save Program. We are all consumers, and my wife and I save a great deal of money by using this program. It is a great benefit to all of our members. I think the association provides wonderful opportunities to become a more professional teacher and save some money along the way. Josh Thompson - Natrona County Education Associaton I worked for over three years on the three members I recruited last year. When cost issues came up, I repeatedly reminded them of the monthly costs over the annual costs, and demonstrated that the daily cost was a bargain for what they got. I repeatedly reminded them that they couldn't afford NOT to be members, and I helped them over the course of many conversations to understand all that their dues dollars actually support. I strategically enlisted the help of two building members whom I knew had good relationships with them. So in this case, these members were hard won and the result of many hours of time and effort on behalf of a lot of people. A volatile student and perceptions of unfairness and ineffectiveness of an administrator created the perfect storm that helped these new members see value in the high costs of membership, which over time didn't seem so high after all. I hope they continue to see membership as something they can't NOT afford. Laurie Graves - Sheridan West Education Association I personally appreciate the "gentle" approach when being encouraged to join an organization. I am also a terrible salesperson, so I offer WEA membership to those staff members in our building through a welcome-back-to-school conversation in the fall. I do go back again and offer to share the benefits of WEA and share how the organization has helped and supported me. I am not good at pressuring folks, and so far this "gentle" approach has gained several members per year. Ty Ruby - Southwest Region Representative I will admit I became a big pain in the rear with grabbing the 3 members. I talked to them to begin with to see if they were interested. For those interested, I set up a time to return to talk to them about the association, fees, and the benefits of joining. I returned later to check to see if they were interested; if yes, I filled out the contract for them and then took it in and reviewed the contract with them. If they were still interested, they signed the document and then I sent it off for them. There were also some folks who expressed interest with the UD, and I got in touch with them at the local level. I found that bringing it up, then revisiting again to test the waters, and then retesting their interest seemed to work for me with gathering members. I did spend time talking to folks directly. I traveled to the other schools to have a one-on- one conversation with the person. SUCCESS!! Here are some tips from members who Grabbed 3 last year: