Guest blogger Ali Lampson ’17 writes:

This past week I had the privilege of joining my fellow Minutemen (Minutewomen) in the wonderful Washington, DC for the CASE ASAP national conference. CASE ASAP is a very large international organization. The goal of this organization is to enhance student participation in advancement at our schools. There were over 800 people at the convention and six of us from UMass SAA were able to attend.

We had the opportunity to spend our first day in DC exploring the city and walked over 10 miles!  While sleep was lacking, we were excited to learn about the other organizations from across the country. This conference not only helped us share our own events, but taught us about the many new events and marketing best practices we could introduce on our own campus! We learned a great deal of information and got a lot of new ideas about homecoming, recruitment, budgeting, fundraising, and so much more!

Out of all the schools in attendance, we were able to spend some extra time with Smith College, Rice University, Penn State, URI and others too. CASE ASAP was an awesome experience for UMass Amherst. As leaders of our campus, it is our job to make sure that students have a positive undergraduate experience so they become active alumni. Once graduated, we are responsible for building a bridge between those alumni and current student body. It was great to have the opportunity to talk with other organizations that share the same values and goals as we do.

Attending CASE ASAP reminded us that what we do is important for the campus community and our university as a whole. Not only did this past week at the conference get me excited for the upcoming year, but it brought our group closer! This was a great bonding experience and I know we are all very excited to bring back our new ideas and tools to our campus and start planning for the upcoming school year! Look out UMass – SAA is ready for fall!