Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/916449
4 Alli Barker, President, UW SWEA Chapter Dirk Andrews, President of the Natrona County Education Association and WEA Board member, came from Casper to present a session on engaging early career educators and the enthusiasm of BEWM! – a model for member engagement that stands for "Because Education in Wyoming Matters!". Support for discussions on the Wyoming Retirement System and engaging WEA-Retired members was provided by Judy Trohkimoinen, NE/C UniServ Director and WEA-Retired Liaison. Kelly Leichtnam of the Wyoming Retirement System's Cheyenne office presented valuable information on preparing for retirement. The President of WEA- Retired, Vicki Swenson, spoke on the value of lifetime membership in WEA-Retired and how she became an activated and involved advocate for Wyoming public education as a retired educator. The most important reason for holding this retreat was to gather WEA leaders and members in the region to collaborate, build relationships, and find their superpowers as advocates for public education. There are plans to hold two more retreats – one in the spring and another in the summer – which will focus on building a strong Association through relational organizing and shared understandings of our vision for public education in the Equality State. The Student Wyoming Education Association (SWEA) is a student organization based out of the College of Education at the University of Wyoming. We are a branch of the Wyoming Education Association and desire to fulfill the National Education Association's goals, visions, and requirements. Our main goal is to provide our educators with the three P's: Professional Development, Political Action, and Public Service. Our three P's direct our visions and the projects we do in our organization. The first P, Professional Development, is achieved every meeting. There are many professional development opportunities for our educators at our meetings, such as: resumé building, classroom management strategies, student teaching survival, interview tips, and many other skills our future educators will need. The second P, Political Action, is addressed with visits from current legislative members in Wyoming who update and inform us on the status of education legislation. The third P, Public Service, is our favorite mission. We participate in The Big Event, Parents Night Out – a literacy event for children, Clothing Swap, Safe Treat, Homecoming, Dr. Seuss Literacy Day, and many other community service events that help us give back to our great town of Laramie. These three P's guide our activities and help us develop into outstanding educators. In the future, we hope to continue providing professional development opportunities, as well as legislative knowledge, to our members in order for them to grow as educators. We also plan on staying involved within the community and participating in Scholarship Night, Relay-for-Life, Parents Night Out, and many other spring projects. Within the National Education Association come many great benefits to further our members' development; therefore, we hope to give back to them and continue utilizing their amazing services. We continue looking ahead into another great year with outstanding members, goals, visions, and services. SWEA Growing Outstanding Future Educators Winter 2017 | wyoea.org