Mississippi State Report
Laura Diven-Brown, MASFAA President

The 38th Annual MASFAA Conference was held May 18-20, 2005, at the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi. In addition to the 188 Mississippi members who participated, several special guests were in attendance, including SASFAA President Janet Sain, TASFAA President Joanie Walker, TASFAA President-Elect 2005-06 Clyde Walker, and KASFAA President Heather Boutell. In addition, the SASFAA Long-Range Planning Committee (including Janet, Carol Mowbray, Tom Morehouse, Juanita Russell, Jane McNaughton, and Cruzie Lucero) arranged their May meeting to coincide with our conference in Biloxi, so they were able to dine with the MASFAA Board on May 17th. It was great to have our SASFAA friends join us!

The theme of the conference, “MASFAA in May”, celebrated the fact that the event was being held in May for the first time. A festival atmosphere was featured by Conference Chair Wendy Hutchins and her committee. They did an outstanding job!

The Opening Session kicked off with a very dynamic set of election “speeches” from our officer candidates (including a rap song, and two candidates for the same office who each urged the membership to vote for the other person!) Then Louanne Langston, Jim Flippin, and Joe McCormick led a memorable (and colorful?!) salute to new Honorary Lifetime Member Larry Blankenship. The session concluded with the Magic of Steven Bargatze, an internationally acclaimed professional magician, who not only performed comedy entertainment and magical wonders for the audience, but also shared his personal story about the importance of education in his life. Then the membership gathered outside on the hotel deck for the President’s Reception, overlooking the beautiful Mississippi gulf coast.

Day two of the conference commenced with a panel discussion on ethics in the world of financial aid, which was a great topic. The panel included Todd Woodlee, Joanie Walker, Clyde Walker, Jane McNaughton, and a Department of Education trainer who was new to Mississippi, Dave Elliott. The remainder of the day involved twenty break-out sessions followed by a general session that honored MASFAA past presidents, new members, and the vendors/sponsors who made the conference possible. The schools surprised the sponsors with tokens of their appreciation so that every sponsor in attendance got to take home a gift with a school logo on it. Then the night rolled on with a beach party that included beach balls on the deck and flip flops!

The last day of the event featured updates from Janet Sain on behalf of SASFAA, Mary Jane Covington of the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid, Dave Elliott from the Department of Education, and Claude Pressnell and Nicole Barry of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. The membership also made donations to two charities: The Mississippi Burn Camp Foundation for young burn survivors and a scholarship for a Clinton High School student in memory of former MASFAA member and friend, Brandy Hill, who passed away February 18, 2005.

The 2005-06 MASFAA election results were announced by Past President Patrick James, representing the MASFAA Nominations Committee. A total of 193 votes were cast—a new record for MASFAA. Congratulations are extended to:

To conclude the conference, several MASFAA members were presented with special awards.

The 2004-05 MASFAA Board, committee chairs, and members had a very productive year. In addition to an excellent annual conference, here are just a few bullet points from the year in review:

Incoming 2005-06 MASFAA President, Soraya Welden, has scheduled the Transitional Board Meeting for June 27-28 in Jackson. MASFAA is looking forward to another great year!