Hello all,

Do you find things ironic, lately? I started a list of post-its that I keep
on my wall of ironic things students have told me, such as: their
probationary time of having their license is over so they COULD drive with
friends, but they can't be in a car with friends. Another one told me, she
worked hard this year to get her grades up, and then everything went to
"Pass/Fail/Incomplete." One irony I have been mulling about was the MEEOA
Conference 2020 theme: "Seeing the Future in 20/20." I can say for certain,
the future I saw did NOT look like what we are living in now! Thankfully,
the work we all do continues to contribute to brighter futures for our
students, which was really the whole point of the theme.

Thinking about the future, we still do not have a Conference Chair for the
MEEOA 2021 Conference. "What conference?" you might ask, or, "who would
want to try to plan that??" I get it. The MEEOA Board was discussing these
quandaries ourselves at the last meeting. While we all might be hesitant to
plan on signing a contract with a hotel, much like we have all done for
months now, there may be ways to look at the conference as a new
opportunity in a virtual format! Perhaps this year is a really great chance
to bring in some outside speakers that the timing and location would not
allow for before. Or, maybe even more people could go at a reduced rate and
without having to take two or three days away from home and work. None of
this seems impossible.

I say all that to bring us to this: we still need a Conference 2021 Chair,
and perhaps a committee. Again, this time and place we are in allows more
people to collaborate and work together. Do you like to organize and plan
events? Are you someone who has good connections with people around the
state or in education? Are you NOT writing a grant this year? Do you want
the opportunity to serve on the MEEOA Board? Could I bribe you with
chocolate? If so, please let me know and we can discuss how you would like
to be involved.

For those of you planning budgets and travel (ha ha, travel!!) in the 20-21
program year, there is not much I can offer you at this point. We really do
not know what January will look like, obviously. Our hope is to still have
a conference in some way, but the price would be greatly reduced if we end
up doing it virtually.

Sorry for the long email. I know those are the worst right now.

Hope you're all well, and perhaps I will catch you for Bingo tomorrow!
Mary


*Mary Sinclair*
Student Services Coordinator, Upward Bound
<http://www2.umf.maine.edu/upwardbound/>
University of Maine at Farmington
252 Main Street, Farmington, ME 04938
207.778.7429 (w) 207.712.2930 (c)
Toll Free: 1.888.237.1667
pronouns: she/her

*President Elect, Maine Educational Opportunity Association*