Tuesday, April 24, 2012

NSSLHA Meeting 4/24 - Officer Elections


It’s election season! Here are the candidates for each position, and the speeches they shared in meeting. Online members and those who missed meeting please email me with your vote! We need as many votes to make it easy. Thanks everyone! Bake Sale tomorrow and don't forget about banquet next Tuesday!!!!!!

Speeches

-       Secretary

Nguygen Dinh
Hello all,
You may be wondering who this awkward girl standing before you is.  Allow me to introduce myself, muahahaha! My name is Nguyen Dinh, & I’m a dual major in SLP & Psychology.
             Since adding SLP as a major, I have come to love it so much & want to give back to it by running for secretary of NSSLHA. I used to be a piano player, so I have thunder fingers that can type at the speed of lightning-so you can bet that minutes will be recorded!
In all seriousness though, I feel that I have had many experiences that could help me thrive in this position. 
·      I was secretary of my pledge class & was responsible for distributing information to the girls.
·      I work in the College of Liberal Arts Student Division and was responsible for recording minutes my first semester of employment. As an employee there, I have to handle a lot of confidential information so being organized is a must. I also do a lot of clerical work, process forms, and record information in the database.
·      When working on projects with group members, I typically volunteer to send emails to people & I like acting as the liaison between the group I’m a part of & external organizations.       
            This past semester, I haven’t been really active just because of the mass plethora of classes I was taking and the fact that I work part time and had many organizational commitments. Next semester, I am taking less hours & feel that I can be more active in NSSHLA. I hope to make NSSHLA a more organized & fun organization that people will be a part of because they enjoy coming to meetings (rather than an organization people want to be a part of because they believe it’ll look good on their resume-if you know what I mean). Thanks, and I hope that you will trust in me to be your secretary for next year!!

Natalia Rodriguez
Hi everyone! My name is Natalia Rodriguez and I'm currently a junior here. I would love to continue being an officer for NSSLHA because I enjoy being in leadership positions and I love being involved in the university and the overall CSD community. I enjoy the opportunities that NSSLHA has provided me and I would love to help provide the same opportunities to other students. I've always been involved in organizations college. I would specifically like to be secretary because I am very organized and I would love to have my organization skills excel through this organization. I currently work as a receptionist and I am in charge of sending emails to employees and fixing up the worker's schedules. I will aim to make a clearer point system. I want the members to know exactly how many points they have without having to sent emails wondering and having to wait until the secretary responds. Overall, I want to make NSSLHA more organized and welcoming to the members, with regards to points. Please give me this opportunity to continue being a leader and a voice for the organization. Thank you. 

-       Treasurer

Analea Gutierrez
Good afternoon NSSLHA members,
     My name is Analea Gutierrez and I am a 2nd year.   I have been an active member since fall 2011 and I was accepted into the CSD major this semester (Spring 2012).  I have really enjoyed being a member of NSSLHA and hope to be able to have a larger role in this organization.  This is why I want to run for treasurer.  Some of you may be thinking, what makes me qualified for this position.  Well I can easily tell you.  I am not only responsible, but I took accounting last semester and I am currently enrolled finance.  I can honestly say that these have been two of my favorite classes. I hope to use the knowledge and skills I’ve gained from these classes as treasurer.   I also promise to put my full effort with every task I am given and keep everyone informed about the funds we earn.  I hope the odds will be ever in my favor and you will vote for me, Analea.

Hayden Lambert
Hi, you guys! I’m Hayden Lambert, and I am a second-year Speech-Language Pathology major. I have been a member of NSSLHA for the past two semesters, and I would really like to get more involved, so I am running for the office of Treasurer. I know I would be a great fit for this position because I am very organized and great at staying on top of my responsibilities. I have already contacted Megan Watson, the current Treasurer, to ask about the various responsibilities of this position, which include working on the budget, keeping track of expenditures, making deposits, and applying for grants from the Communication Council, and I know I am well equipped to accomplish all of these tasks. I also have experience working in an office environment and handling money, which I think, combined with my other traits, makes me a great candidate for this position. Thank you for your consideration!

-       Service Chair

Rebecca Lee - unopposed
Hello, my name is Rebecca Lee. Unlike most members of NSSLHA, I am not a CSD major and am actually a biochemistry and pre-med major who happens to be extremely interested in ears and the process of hearing. In the past, I had the privilege of shadowing an ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) who worked with cochlear implants as well audiologists and speech pathologists at Texas Children’s Hospital. This semester, I am enrolled in the IE Pre-Grad internship with Michelle Hsieh, Au.D. and Craig Champlin, Ph.D. as my mentors. Through this program, I was even able to attend the American Academy of Audiology conference in Boston about a month ago.
I have really enjoyed being a part of this organization from volunteering at Cochlear Implant Kid’s Day to making and decorating cupcakes for the bake sale. I would like to run for an officer position because I feel that I can contribute to moving NSSHLA forward even further. Some of my ideas for service activities in addition to CIKD are volunteering as a group at the Texas School for the Deaf and Austin Speech Labs as well as organizing a hearing loss prevention campaign on campus and in the community. We can carry out these events according to already established recognitions such as May which is Better Hearing and Speech Month and October which is National Protect Your Hearing Month. In terms of publicity, I think it would beneficial for NSSHLA to host a lecture series that features CSD professors and practicing professionals, so that the public can learn more about the CSD field as well. Another thought I had was to tour the audiology and/or speech pathology departments in local hospitals or in private clinics around Austin. I hope my ideas sound promising and have the potential to make NSSLHA an even better organization. Thanks!

-       Fundraising Chair

Natalia Rodriguez
Hi everyone! My name is Natalia Rodriguez and I'm currently a junior here. I would love to continue being an officer for NSSLHA because I enjoy being in leadership positions and I love being involved in the university and the overall CSD community. I enjoy the opportunities that NSSLHA has provided me and I would love to help provide the same opportunities to other students. I've always been involved in organizations college. Please give me this opportunity to continue being a leader and a voice for the organization. Thank you. 

Alexa Pawlowski
Hey everyone! My name is Alexa Pawlowski and I've been an active member of NSSLHA since Fall of my freshman year. I am a 3rd year Audiology major and currently Historian of NSSLHA. I have lots of ideas for fundraisers and would like to schedule all of the fundraisers at the beginning of the semester so we can have a calendar with events. I think this would help give people more opportunities to get their fundraiser points and become active members. I've enjoyed being an officer this past year and have learned so much about leadership in NSSLHA. Thanks!

-       Publicity Chair

Doris Kisel - unopposed
Hi my name is Doris Kisel.   I’m currently NSSLHA’s Publicity Chair, and I’m running to get re-elected for next year.   As Publicity Chair, I built and managed the club’s website, making sure it was always updated with our current news and events.  I also cared for NSSLHA’s facebook page, creating events for our meetings and fundraisers and answering questions members posted on its wall or directing them to whichever officer could help them best when I didn’t know the answer to their inquiries.  I also created flyers for our events and posted them around the CMA.  I built relationships with our advisors, departmental professors, and staff at the clinic and CSD office, keeping them up to date with events we were hosting.  I really enjoyed getting to know you, the members or this club, either in person or through questions you e-mailed me with.  I’m very organized, responsible, and love to help, so if you like the way I handled NSSLHA’s publicity this past year, please vote for me again.  Thank you.

-       Historian

Shelby Crooks
Hi my name is Shelby Crooks and I am running to be your Historian. I want to be historian because I really enjoy photography and play with it a lot in my free time. I was in photography all through high school and have been historian in a few clubs and I have really enjoyed it. Along with having some advanced equipment that would make taking pictures even more fun I am usually at most of the events and would do a great job of documenting all the cool things we do here in NSSHLA. I feel like I have not seen a camera much at our events and I want to change that and see that all of the good that we do can be captured and shared with others.
Thanks so much.

Alexa Pawlowski
Hey everyone! My name is Alexa Pawlowski and I'm a soon to be senior Audiology major. I am the current Historian running to be Historian again. I love taking pictures and consider photography like my undeclared minor. I have taken several photography classes here at UT and will be taking a Documentary Photography in Prague this summer. I was also an official photographer for SXSW this year which was an awesome experience. I just got a new DSLR for my birthday and several lenses that I can't wait to use! As Historian next year I'd love to add pictures to our blog so all of the online members can see what's going on!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

NSSLHA 4/10/12 - Important Info READ ALL

Austin Speech Labs - Read Announcements at Bottom!
- They are a nonprofit who provide therapy services to stroke survivors and patients who have suffered brain injury to help them regain their speech, language, and social lives.
- They are doing a service to people who are motivated to improve but may lack the opportunity to continue therapy.
- They offer a place to come together and share their experiences.
- They do group sessions, individual sessions, and telecommute therapy.

- After a stroke, a patient may receive therapy for about 6 months but individuals whose insurance has run out or who don't have insurance can go to Austin Speech Labs to receive therapy services for $10 an hour.
- They have speech therapy services and do special boot camps that run for 8 weeks and can be a few days a week for 3 hours a day.

- Austin Speech Labs had 3 of their patients join us and tell us their stories. Their testimonials were amazing and we learned so much! Their prognoses were poor but thanks to Austin Speech Labs they broke the boundaries and are still improving many years after their strokes.

- Volunteers always needed! They have programs that run in the summer in June and July. Email Shelley at shelley@austinspeechlabs.org. Let her know if you are interested. They are on Facebook and you can find them at www.austinspeechlabs.org. During the school year, they usually have shifts 9-12 or 1-4. There should be a form up on their website for volunteering etc.
- There is typically group sessions and volunteers are paired with a client within that group. The supervisors walk around and help out. Great opportunity!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Fundraiser - Bake Sale April 24th (CMA Plaza) and 25th (West Mall) 9:00 am-2:00pm
- Google doc will be sent out to sign up for shifts and baked items to bring. (1 pt. for hour shift, 1pt. for item)
Social - 1. Amy's Ice Cream on Guad (This Thurs. April 12 @ 6:30-8:00)
2. Dave & Busters (Next Wed. April 18 @ 7:00) officers are driving and picking up in front of Littlefield Fountain
3. Game Night (Wed. April 25 6:00-8:00 location TBA)

Banquet is May 1st 5:00 RSC 2.104 - Respond to evite!

OFFICER ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD NEXT MEETING April 24!
Positions:
Secretary
Treasurer
Social
Fundraising
Publicity
An email will come with steps to be taken if you would like to run.