Tuesday, April 20, 2010

4/20 election meeting

hey everyone!!! this was our election meeting.

if you are an online member or couldnt make it to the meeting, then please read the following blurbs about each candidate for each officer position then EMAIL ASHLEY B WITH YOUR VOTES. DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE ON THE BLOG! YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TOMORROW (WED 4-21) TO VOTE. IF YOU VOTED AT THE MEETING YOU CANNOT VOTE AGAIN.

the candidates running are:

SECRETARY
lindsay dorman
saher hyderali
lopa shah

TREASURER
valerie de la rosa
kristy wisdom

SERVICE
erin huffman
lisa rodriguez

SOCIAL
krystin leonard
veronica garza
jordan bubis
chloe goodman

FUNDRAISER
krystin leonard
veronica garza

PUBLICITY
sandra gonzalez
aisha khan

HISTORIAN
aisha khan
dana thorson
ashlee burzo

PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR: ________________________




*****CHOOSE ONE CANDIDATE FOR EACH OFFICER POSITION AND 1 PROFESSOR FOR PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR.*****

HERE ARE THE CANDIDATES SPEECHES. PLEASE READ THEM AND CHOOSE 1 PERSON FOR EACH POSITION. EMAIL ASHLEY B. WITH YOUR VOTES BY MIDNIGHT TOMORROW (WED 4-21). VOTES AFTER THAT WILL NOT BE COUNTED.

Krystin Leonard- social and fundraising
Hey fellow NSSLHAer's, I am running for the officer positions of social and fundraiser. If I were elected for social, I have a couple of ideas already brewing. I have been thinking about picnics on the lawn (or elsewhere), movie nights (hopefully on campus), and many more. If I were to be elected for fundraiser I would want to try some new things. We would probably have some bake sales, but not only them. I would want to maybe do gift baskets, or something crazy like get donations to take a picture with a character of some kind....assuming it's in the budget to rent the costume. If you don't like that idea, suggests will always be welcome...or just vote for me as social. lol Thanks and hope to be an excellent officer for all of you because y'all deserve it.

Lisa Rodriguez- service
My name is Lisa Rodriguez; I’ll be a senior speech pathology major next year and I would like to be your NSSLHA Service Officer. I’m really looking forward to next year (whether I get the position or not); but, as your service officer, I would follow in Sarah’s footsteps to help build up your resumes, and most importantly, give back to Austin. I’ve loved the services we’ve done this past year: Longhorn Halloween, the turkey baskets, and especially Cochlear Implant Kid’s Day; and I was thinking for next year, maybe we could add on the Orange Santa Event. Orange Santa is exclusively for UT faculty and students with special needs to shop for Christmas gifts for their kids up to 17 years of age. Maybe we could get together to make gift baskets, or actually volunteer at the event as gift wrappers, bag carriers, or helpers to the shoppers. I would also be open to any and every idea from you. I think its great that we are willing and able to give back to our community and I would love to be the officer to help do it. I believe you will be happy in choosing me as your service officer to help plan next year’s services and activities.

Kristy Wisdom- treasurer
Hi! My name is Kristy Wisdom. I really want to be a NSSLHA officer! I'm running to be treasurer for the 2010-2011 school year. I am currently an Audiology major but I'm really interested in the cognitive neuroscience research aspect of Communication Sciences and Disorders. I have been an active member this year and have really enjoyed every moment. I went to TSHA this year for the first time and I loved it! At Cochlear Implant Kids Day, this past weekend, I worked the face painting booth and was honored to paint faces. As an officer, my goal would be to bring this growing organization closer as a team, while conveniently increasing our knowledge and networking to prepare all members for their future careers in CSD. I'm an outgoing person and would love to help lead our organization and contribute to our futures in CSD. As treasurer I would organize the finances and encourage low prices for the poor college students we are (at least I am). This year, it was so convenient that we got our money back for time spent at TSHA. I would continue to support and develop great ideas that increase our convenience. The officers did so great this year it's hard to speak of improvements, but I have an image of this fast growing organization and I will work very hard to make sure everyone gets the most opportunity possible from NSSLHA! Vote for me, Kristy Wisdom as treasurer! :)

Veronica Garza- social and fundraiser
Social: So I've been in NSSLHA for 2 years and I wanted to run for social chair because its the functions we do as an organization that keeps us united and I feel from there we can build friendships and become more familiar with other faces we see in our classes. For socials, I feel we should have at least 2 events in which we go out together and just enjoy a night. I feel having at least two is good because it gives some people more of an opportunity to attend. Also, I'd help organize the annual trip to TSHA and help make sure everything is set and sails smoothly with the help of others. Fundraiser: For fund raising, I know we have bake sales most the time which is a great time for members to earn their fundraiser points and get to know other members, but in addition, I want to have a raffle or auction of possibly donated goods or have a bake sale in which it's donation based to bring awareness to the events NSSLHA hosts and volunteers with. I want to make sure every member is given the opportunity to earn their fundraiser point while enjoying their experience being part of NSSLHA.

Jordan Bubis- social
“Phonetics, glottal gap, cochlea, buccinator, transcription, aphasia, etc…” These words all are all mapped into our mental lexicons, we all understand each other, or soon will when we say these utterances. Have you ever noticed that, when you are speaking to your friends outside of CSD and strangers about these concepts you have to strain to explain every word that you are conversing about in great detail in a short time, but they still never seem to completely understand? This group brings us all together, we have that connection, we understand each other and where we are coming from. This major is small compared to most at The University of Texas; this is a beneficial factor allowing us to create tight bonds. Everybody in this room probably shares at least one class with another member of NSSLHA. We are here to help each other; we our each other’s helping hands through our classes now, and references and maybe even business partners in the future. We need to get together to develop these bonds, friendships, and connections. We need not be intimidated by each other but get to know one another on a more intimate level. Some ideas I have are continue the once a month “social activity” whether it be dinner, a walk through the park, etc… but at these events match people up with others that they may not know so that we can really become the NSSLHA organization rather than just individual members of NSSLHA. This is why I want to be NSSLHA Social Chair for the 2010-2011 school year, to develop lasting relationships between all of us.

Dana Thorson- historian
Hi! My name is Dana Thorson. I am a junior and am running for the position of historian. I believe I would be great for this position because not only do I love the camera (haha), but I also have previous experience in historian positions. In highschool, I was the historian for the theatre club and was an unofficial “historian” for my cheerleading squad, along with being captain. At the end of each year, I compiled all the pictures I had taken, along with those that others gave to me, and made slideshows for the end of the year banquet. I assumed the same role in my church and did weekly slide shows of our church’s events that showed during each service on Sundays. I love being in NSSLHA and would love the opportunity to capture next year’s great events!

Aisha Khan- publicity, historian
My name is Aisha Khan, I am junior, a speech pathology major and currently running for the position of Historian. I think that I would make an excellent historian, since I have the creativity and people skills needed to attract new members into our wonderful organization and to help advertise our events throughout the UT campus. My experience lies in Adobe Photoshop and doing a few drawings and paintings in my spare time. My plans for next year include letting more people know about our events throughout campus. By posting more flyers in different buildings and by personally giving them to students; I think that the more people who see our flyers then they are more likely to come. In addition to the distribution of flyers, I want to make them more creative so people will be drawn to them more. This may include adding different colors and giving them more of modern vibe. I also want to make the end of the year slide show better than ever by not just adding pictures but even videos of crazy and memorable moments that happened during our meetings and events. If I become historian I will do my best to make this organization heard of more and to capture more memories on camera and on video. Thank you!
My name is Aisha Khan, I am junior, a speech pathology major and currently running for the position of Publicity/Webmaster. I believe I would make an excellent officer, since I have the creativity skills and the experience to help make this organization even better than it was this year! I have experience in adobe Photoshop, web designing software (Dreamweaver & BBC Edit), and back in high school I helped design my school’s website. Besides having web designing skills, I also have excellent organizational skills and I know numerous speech pathologists and audiologists who could come over and speak during our meetings. My plans for next year include making our website better than ever! I personally feel that people should know how great of an organization we are by not just attending our meetings and events but through our website as well. I have researched numerous university NSSLA websites and I think we can top them all by added more creativity and information that would help our members prepare for graduate school and their careers, including GRE information and free GRE events our members can attend to, and list of schools that offer our major in graduate school and their requirements to apply. In addition, I also want our members to log on and view how many minutes that have accomplished or lacked either through UT direct or through our website. Along with making our website better, I also want more audiologists to come in and speak during our meetings, since I felt there was not that many this year and several university representatives who offer our major in graduate schools to come in have a Q & A and provide us with information about their graduate school program. These are just some of the plans I have in store for this wonderful organization and its members. If you vote for me as your publicity/web designer I will make sure to accomplish on what I have said and to implement and propose even better ideas when I am an officer. Thank you! Here is some of the work I have done on Photoshop and by hand enjoy!

Sandra Gonzalez- publicity
Hey ya’ll! My name’s Sandra Gonzalez and I’m a 3rd year SLP major and I feel like I have a lot of experience that would contribute to the Publicity officer position. One of the main duties of the Publicity officer is creating flyers and getting the word out about NSSHLA and our events. I’m currently a Resident Assistant (RA) in Kinsolving and making flyers/banners has been something I’ve had to become great at to get residents interested in coming out to our programs. As an RA I have to create new bulletin boards in my wing on a monthly basis, so maintaining the NSSHLHA bulletin board is something I’d know how to do and have fun doing. Publicity officer also has to maintain the website, and just my luck, my brother is a computer programmer so if I have any trouble, I’d have the perfect resource! Some ideas I have for next year are being more deaf education major friendly and incorporating more resources for deaf ed. majors in our meetings. I’ve heard from several deaf ed majors that they don’t come to NSSLHA meetings because they feel we cater more to SLP and Audiology majors, so I definitely want to broaden our target audience to more than just SLP and Audiology. Something else I’d like to see is getting NSSHLHA and CSD in general more known within the Comm School. Since we’re such a small major, people rarely know who we are and in result we are often at the bottom when it comes to resource allocations in the Comm. School. I want to change this by getting more involved with Comm Council’s Student Issues Advisory Committee (SIAC). They deal with student concerns and legislation within the comm. school and are in constant communication with our college’s deans and department chairs. I feel that through this we can work to get more resources to our department and who knows, maybe even get Lorena a bigger office! Lol J I really enjoy NSSHLHA and everything that this organization does for us CSD majors and I would really enjoy contributing to this organization as an officer. Thank you. J

Valerie De la Rosa- treasurer
Hello all, My name is Valerie De la Rosa, and I’m running for treasurer. I will be readily available to work with the other officers to come up with a suitable budget and keep it up to date. As treasurer, I will keep an organized file of everyone’s payments, the budget, and be responsible for applying for funds. I can fulfill these duties because I am trustworthy and reliable; plus, having worked as a cashier I have experience handling money. By being responsible, I can assure the organization’s funds are managed well and in doing so prevent issues with payments. This position will allow me to be more involved in NSSLHA, which is my ultimate goal. I also hope to implement a plan to keep members informed of where their dues go and what the money we raise pays for so that they feel more aware of what is going on with NSSLHA.

Ashlee Burzo- historian
My name is Ashlee Burzo and I'm running for NSSLHA Historian. I'm a junior majoring in Deaf Education here at UT. As historian I would handle creative advertising for NSSLHA, taking pictures of events, and creating an end of the year powerpoint. I feel I'm qualified for this position because I've taken multimedia classes and can use powerpoint as well as other programs that deal with pictures on the computer, such as photoshop. I've also been a very active member, I've attended every bake sale and only missed one service event all year. Because of this the other officers and members can count on me to be at every meeting and event. Some ideas I have for next year are fixing up our website by adding more pictures to show everyone how much we do as well as how much fun we have in NSSLHA. In addition to adding more pictures to the website, I think we should have a "member of the month" whose picture can grace the front of our website and be rotated monthly. I also think it would be fun to hand out booklets or "mini" scrapbooks to our members at the end of the year with pictures of them participating in our NSSLHA events. Thanks and please vote for me! :)

Lindsay Dorman- secretary
Hey everyone! My name is Lindsay Dorman and I very excited to be running for Secretary of NSSLHA for 2010-2011! I think this organization had an amazing year but I believe next year has even better things in store for us. I'm a Senior Linguistics/Speech Pathology major and I think I'd be a great Secretary because organization is my middle name. I'm the friend who has a million calenders, planners, and reminders on her phone. I was President of NHS back in high school and currently juggle a full class schedule and work. Because of this, I'm confident I can keep track of meeting minutes, membership points, and help think of some great speakers to invite to our events. And above all of this, I have a passion for CSD, just like many of you, that I know would motivate me to be responsible and excel at this position. Thanks guys!

Lopa Shah- secretary
Hi my name is Lopa Shah. I have been a member of NSSLHA for the past year but have following them since my freshman year. I am running for the position of secretary for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. I believe I would make a great candidate for secretary because I have a lot of experience in this position. In high school I was highly active in two clubs and was secretary for both of those clubs for my senior year. I helped organize events, keep items and papers in order, and gained some experience keeping minutes both during officer and general member meetings. Another reason I feel I would make a great candidate is the fact that I am as involved as I can be with NSSLHA. I attended TSHA this semester and in order to do so, you have to be a pretty active member of the club. Also for cochlear implant kid's day I was part of the gaming committee, thus taking on the responsibility to execute things properly in order for our event to run smoothly. Lastly, I really do enjoy being a part of this club, it gives so much to us majoring in CSD and it would be wonderful to play a more active role in this club.

Saher Hyderali- secretary
Hi, my name is Saher Hyderali. I am currently a freshman, and a communication sciences and disorders major, which is one of the prime reasons I joined NSSHLA. I am running for the secretary position. I was secretary for Spanish Honors’ Society, Student Council, and National Honors’ Society. Because of this past experience, I’m highly organized, well at running errands, and good at being the ‘right-hand-man’ which is what a secretary’s job is all about. If elected, I will work my very hardest and put a 100 percent into the job. Vote for me!

Erin Huffman- service
My name is Erin Huffman. I’m a Junior and a Speech-Pathology major. I really want to get NSSLHA out there and even more involved in the UT, CSD, and Austin communities through service opportunities and events! As Service Chair, I will continue what Sarah started this year with organizing events like Longhorn Halloween, Cochlear Implant Kids Day, Explore UT, and Forty Acres Fest. I also hope to find more opportunities for NSSLHA to give back to the community like we did with the Christmas cards for the sick children and the turkey baskets. I’m going to look into more chances for us to help out with events at the Texas School for the Deaf and a time and place where we can regularly read to children. I’m sure that many other opportunities will arise during the 2010 – 2011 school year, as well. If you elect me as NSSLHA’s next Service Chair, I will be sure that everyone has as much notice as I can possibly give about upcoming service events by sending monthly calendars with all the events you can potentially participate in. In these calendars, I will also include as much information as I have to give about the nature of each event. I know we’re all busy and I really feel like this would build up participation which would ultimately get NSSLHA to become a more well known and prestigious organization among UT students. I would really appreciate this opportunity to better serve all of you, as well as NSSLHA, so help me out and vote for me!

Chloe Goodman- social
Hi my name is Chloe Goodman and I am running for Social. I want to be your social chair for several reasons. To begin with, I want to become more involved with NSSHLA and I firmly believe the best way to do that is by taking on a leadership role. So why social? What makes me qualified? I am one of the most extraverted people you will ever come across and I love meeting new people. In high school I managed to choreograph the school shows as well as excel on the soccer team. I genuinely loved hanging out with both groups of people and prided myself on the ability to connect with a variety of people. I am detail oriented but able to multi-task at the same time. One of my goals is to unify NSSHLA even more by planning unique and exciting events where we can really get to know one another. There is a strong commonality between us and I truly feel that lasting friendships can be forged based on our similar passions and goals. I want to increase attendance at social events by arranging events that people feel enthusiastic about. I want ya’ll to come not because you need to fulfill a point, but because the event actually sounds fun!! I would definitely be open to hearing any input from members in addition to finding out the best day for the event that would work with the majority’s schedule.
In high school, I was on the events committee and helped plan Homecoming, Turnabout, and Prom so I know what it takes to execute an organized yet enjoyable function. My ideas for 2010/2011 are Pizza with the pros, Bowling night, Tacky Chrismakkah “White Elephant” Party, and either a mixer with another club or some type of formal where you could bring a date.
I would love to be your Social and it’s up to you to make that happen! Vote for me, Chloe Goodman and I can guarantee you… our ASSOCIATION will be the most fun in the NATION!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

CIKD WAS AWESOME!!! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED.

BANQUET NEXT TUES 4/27 AT 5PM IN SANTA RITA ROOM. PLEASE RSVP SO WE KNOW YOU ARE COMING!!!!

IF YOU CARPOOLED TO TSHA, YOU OWE SELINA $8 FOR GAS REIMBURSEMENT.


AGAIN, PLEASE READ THE BLURBS AND THEM EMAIL ASHLEY B WITH YOUR VOTES FOR EACH CANDIDATE AND PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY VOTED, YOU CANNOT VOTE AGAIN. PLEASE HAVE YOUR VOTES IN BY MIDNIGHT TOMORROW (WED 4-21) AFTER THAT THEY WILL NOT BE COUNTED.

THANKS!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

4/6/10 meeting

****COMMENT TO THESE MINUTES TO GET CREDIT FOR THE MEETING!****

ANNOUNCEMENTS!
-Bake sale 4/19-20 CMA plaza contact Robyn to sign up
-wanna be an officer next yr?? Recruitment Party- Friday april 9,2010 at Austin’s Pizza 8:30pm
-Forty Acres Fest- April 10
-CIKD- april 17 at REC center
-Elections meeting is April 20!!! contact Ashley B by april 14 if you are interested in being an officer next yr!
-NSSLHA banquet- April 27 at 5pm santa rita room in union

speaker: Amy Gensler- only certified AV(auditory-verbal therapy) therapist in austin

Went to UT, started in chemical engineering but changed in sophomore yr
Did masters here at UT- audiology, did CFY in Houston then moved back to Austin began working for Austin Ear Clinic

to be an AV therapist: Have to do 3 yrs of training after masters, 1200 hrs of therapy that’s observed by mentor, apply to take exam

typical week at her clinic: she does Half AV therapy and half cochlear implants- 260 people with cochlear implants, mostly children
Work with patients that need hearing and balance testing, auditory nerve therapy, cochlear implants and aural habilitation
She works with 20 people who get ci each yr

Av therapy- have to be a licensed SLP or AUD, all coursework regulated by AG Bell; they set the exam- 4 hr exam

Use phonetics every day, especially with children who have just received their cochlear implant

Mission- to help pts with cochlear implants to use the hearing they have left and communicate through spoken language
Help get kids to process what they hear, parents always involved in the therapy

Parents Want kids to have good auditory skills and to have literate skills- that’s why they choose AV therapist

Most of classes to be AVT are not in texas

Have to teach parents why they have to not use sign language, you have to make the child’s brain stronger by using only verbal communication

She programs cochlear implants as well as does AVT

Kids are entitled to programs in the schools because they have a hearing impairment- fm systems, deaf ed programs, etc

Goals worked on- auditory, speech, language, cognition; set for 6 month intervals and changed if needed
Ultimate goal- mainstream education for the child, close the gap between childs language age and chronological age, literacy skills typical of child that age, to catch up the child’s auditory skill level as close to normal as possible

47 schools in us that provide AVtherapy
The Center for Hearing and Speech, Hearing School of the Southwest, Sunshine Cottage- in TX
Programs that provide coursework for AVT- the Alabama Ear Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Hearing School of the Southwest, University of North Carolina, Learning to Listen Foundation

amylynngensler@yahoo.com
aud grad students rotate thru their clinic
can come observe- email her