As my year as NASFAA’s National Chair winds down I am taking this opportunity to thank all of you who participated in a charity event at your conferences this year.  It is quite inspiring that NASFAA members are supporting a wide variety of charities around our states and regions.  From the Iowa Association (IASFAA) who held a year-long focus on autism, to SASFAA, MASFAA, SWASFAA, and other state (Colorado, Oklahoma, Michigan and others) and regional associations, I applaud your efforts.  I don’t have a final count of the total dollars raised or the number of educational awareness programs that occurred throughout this year, but I can tell you that at least 15 autism information events took place and over $12,000 was raised for local autism associations and other local charities. I believe that this is the first time that a charity focus was instituted on a national basis by a NASFAA National Chair.  I’m hopeful that going forward others in this position will continue to pursue raising awareness for the many deserving charities out there that are dear to their hearts.

I thought that you would be interested in hearing from one of our own - Ted Malone from the University of Alaska in Anchorage.  Ted’s statement concerns family’s life with his son Evan who has Asperger’s Syndrome.   Hopefully it will give you insight into how wonderful these special children, young adults and adults are.  My five-year-old grandson Cale, who is autistic and moved me to start this campaign, continues to go through occupational and speech therapies that are improving his social skills, his speech and his mechanical skills.  Thanks to all of you who have given me your prayers and support for this effort this year.

I appreciate all you have done.  At last summer’s NASFAA Conference I asked the NASFAA membership to “Cowboy Up!” this year.   “Boy Howdy!”  You have done so.  Financial aid folks are the best!

I look forward to seeing you in San Antonio for NASFAA’s Annual Conference next month where you can share with me personally your efforts throughout the year.

Ted’s Statement:

Last spring when I heard Dave Gruen’s plan to have Autism Speaks as the NASFAA charity for the 2009 conference, I was very excited.  Autism is a debilitating brain condition that affects about 1 in 150 children.  It is very near and dear to my heart because my Son is one of those children.

Most people do not recognize that Evan is on the Autism spectrum, because he looks very “normal.”  Autism is a spectrum disorder, because there is a wide range of manifestations and levels of disability.  Not all folks on the spectrum are disabled to the level of Raymond Babbitt of The Rain Man.  Evan is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a very mild form of Autism.    Evan is a typical 17 year-old boy in many respects.  He is growing like a weed, hungry all the time, is too shy to talk to girls and really into electronic gizmos.   However, Evan has always marched to the beat of a different drummer.

He reached developmental milestones in very unique ways.  We never saw him learn to walk; he just did it at 18 months.  He did not babble and baby talk the way most children did, but at age two he just started speaking in complete sentences.  My wife, Tamzin, started to suspect Evan had a problem around the age 4.  She questioned whether we should start him in Kindergarten or hold him back.  We started him and we were called to the principal’s office within the first two weeks.  Evan did not do things the way he was supposed to.

We moved to Washington during his kindergarten year and decided not to restart him until the following fall.  His school there was wonderful in treating Evan as an individual.  There were still issues, but the principal did not over react and most of his teachers allowed him freedom to be different.  If he stood in the back while other’s sat on the floor, it was not such a big deal.

We began to notice increased isolation on his part.  He could fixate on his favorite things to an extent that seemed unreal.  Dialog that runs through most people’s minds flowed freely from his lips.  But, we were able to live with his eccentricities and his school accommodated his behavior which was never malicious just off beat.

After a couple years in Washington, we moved to Alaska which turned out to be a change that pushed Evan a bit more than he could handle. Evan started school in the fall and where his prior school had been laid back and worked within his quirks, his new one was hard line on anything other than what they wanted.  The suspensions soon followed.  We even had one out of school suspension that resulted from Evan’s refusal to sign a piece of paper saying he lost a book, that he knew was at home.  The stress on Evan began to manifest new behaviors, and we took him to a psychiatrist.  The first diagnosis was that Evan was suffering from depression.  They gave him an anti-depressant and the results were horrible.  It sent him into a manic phase that was uncontrollable.  He did not sleep for several days and we could not send him to school because he could not stop talking.

Step 2 was a full battery of tests which discovered that Evan had holes in some of his areas of perception.  Evan was missing some of the self-regulatory items that most people have.  This was when we first learned about Asperger Syndrome.  There is no cure for this situation.  Evan has had to learn to manually do what most do automatically.  We assumed that this diagnosis would help the school deal with him for effectively.  As it turned out that was not the case.  You see, even people who should be educated about developmental disabilities are often at a loss to deal with some of his manifestations.  While I am certain no child in a wheel chair would ever be disciplined for refusing to obey an instruction to walk, Evan has been in trouble many times for willful disobedience of instructions that at the time he was no more able to obey than a wheel chair bound child could obey the command to walk.

I cannot say that we are perfect parents and are never frustrated by his behavior.  We often wonder if he will ever be able to live on his own.  We have however learned that this is best done with a team of advocates.  We have had training from the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) on how to be a family member to someone with invisible disabilities.  We have participated in group therapy with other parents of spectrum children.  Evan has participated in groups of boys his age learning how to fake eye contact and other social graces that are beyond their instincts.  We have tried several different schooling methods from Montessori to home school.  He is currently in a small charter school that does not have sports teams, but does have a robotics team.  As you might guess a bit of geekiness is quite the norm there, so Evan does not stand out so much.  I am not sure what the future holds for my son or others like him.  Many people on the spectrum contribute to society in very meaningful ways.  I know more people need to be aware of this condition and learn to be more tolerant of mental illness in general.

There is an excellent book that can give you insight into the world of autism.  It is called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.  It tells a sort of murder mystery from the point of view of an Autistic teen age boy who decides to solve the case.  It gave me understanding that many textbooks never could.

Those of you attending NASFAA’s National Conference this past week possibly heard my remarks at the Business Meeting, but I thought I would share some of them again.

I come from the Cowboy state of Wyoming and have lived and worked in Oklahoma - another Cowboy state. And, as you are aware, next year’s NASFAA Conference is in Texas – another Cowboy state. So, I’m warning you now that we are going to ‘Cowboy Up!!’ this year. For those who have never heard this phrase, the simplest explanation for ‘Cowboy Up!!’ is that it’s the ‘Cowboy Spirit’ - to give it all you’ve got; don’t give up; do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt.

The Western ethos is alive and well where I live. In the West there is an unwritten Cowboy ‘Code of the West’. Although we hear much about change, these days, I believe that basic truths never change and that the Code is still applicable in today’s world and to how we, as financial aid professionals, do business. While NASFAA has developed a written code, we also live by an unwritten code within our profession. While there are many platitudes in the Code, there are two that are especially significant and applicable to us in financial aid: 1) be proud of your occupation, and; 2) be loyal to your brand and those you ride with.

Like you, I am very proud of what we do. I can’t think of a more dedicated and inspiring group of folks than those in the trenches assisting students and families every day. We are the champions for the under-privileged seeking education and pursuing a better life. We work long and hard often under some very exacting and perplexing regulations to serve our students and institutions. Volunteering is one way to demonstrate pride for your occupation. We have a moral duty to each other, to our institutions and especially to our students to be involved professionally. Without volunteers, we cannot achieve the necessary level of training and good works that our associations thrive on. Show your pride by supporting NASFAA and your state and regional associations by volunteering your knowledge, thoughts and time. It’s your duty, so ‘Cowboy Up!!’

The ongoing Direct Loan vs. FFELP debate provides a great avenue to demonstrate loyalty to ‘those we ride with.’ This debate has been going on for 15 years! Isn’t it time to put aside our differences? Let’s trust one another to make the best decision for our students and institution. So ‘Cowboy Up!!’ and refrain from personal attacks and remember our loyalty to each other and to our students. As long as the two programs are supported by the government, NASFAA will continue to support both, providing good information and training for both so that institutions can make the right decision for their students.

We have had a rough couple of years, but through the strong leadership of past Chairs Janet Dodson and Michael Bennett we have persevered. But, let’s not dwell on the past. Let’s look forward, to where NASFAA will lead in providing students with access, choice and success in higher education. I know that at times we can get mired down with regulations making it easy to forget why we do what we do. That’s when we need to ‘Cowboy Up!!’ Attorney General Cuomo’s investigations provide an opportunity to demonstrate our loyalty to our students and our profession. I challenge Mr. Cuomo to join with NASFAA to efficiently use the funds he has accumulated to educate students and families about financial aid and financial literacy. Who better for him to work with than the professionals most trusted by college-going students? Mr. Cuomo, let’s ‘Cowboy Up!!’ and work together.

This is such a rewarding profession. For many of us financial aid is more than a job, it’s a career, it’s a cause. Like many of you, we give our personal time to be involved in our professional associations. My involvement has given me so much more than I have ever put in. Like you, I’ve met and assisted many fantastic students – students who would not have been successful without our counseling and assistance. And, like you, I’ve visited places I never would have gone, I’ve met people that I never would have met, and I’ve established friendships that have endured many years and will last a lifetime. I hope that when you take a deep breath and can look back over your career that you will feel, like me, that you feel truly blessed to have chosen financial aid as your career.

So, are you ready to ride with me? ‘Cowboy Up!!’

As I write this, I am watching the sun set over Puget Sound from my 43rd floor, 180 degree view room at the WASFAA Conference in Seattle, Washington.  It’s beautiful here… Space Needle outside my window…. ferries, cruise ships, and sailboats sprinkled across the water… life is good.

“Aren’t there conference sessions you should be attending?” you ask.

“I just came back from one,” I reply smiling.

Even with all of the beauty around me, it isn’t my hotel room or the location that has me feeling so good, it’s the opening WASFAA conference session that featured Swil Kanim.

Swil Kanim is a world class virtuoso violinist, actor (Northern Exposure), storyteller and I would add “healer”.  A Lummi Indian who grew up on a Lummi reservation, he mastered his expert violin skills with some help from world-class teachers and violin makers in the area.  He served eight years in the Army (Fort Dix, NJ), and after that he began playing professionally by getting a performer’s permit to play on the street and the infamous Pike Place Market. He played for donations from the several million people who wiggle through there each year.  And although he did not speak of his early years in great detail, he did mention foster parents, and arriving at a place when all the pain, sufferings, and beatings became worthwhile … and as he spoke, I found myself saying “Go on.”

He continued talking, telling some kind of story… maybe an old myth or poem.  As he continued with this story I found myself drawn to his words, and others were too because there was that stillness in the room that occurs when kindred spirits come together.

And it was nice for that brief moment to have the busyness and stress of the financial aid world melt away and just “BE” together.

I wish you were there.

You see he was talking about how much good can be accomplished by simply “being present in the moment,” how we need to “reconnect with what drives each of us,” to “honor your vision and follow your passion.”  And then he said “I see the choices you’ve made” and he smiled… and I smiled too because I know how our colleagues make good choices. You are present for students and families and choose day in and day out to help those who need our help.

He drove home his point not in words, but with his presence and with music that reaches into your soul to deliver its message. He began to play a piece he wrote.  And it was simply beautiful; it took my breath away and I almost cried.  It was one of those moments where you catch a glimpse of how blessed someone is who has a gift and shares it. That gift serves as the vehicle for them to express themselves and his music lifted my spirit and took me to the place that only wounded healers can. (When he finished I couldn’t help but say “Amen.”)

If Swil Kanim were asked if his music mirrored his life he would simply say his music “just IS,” nothing more, nothing less.

I congratulate WASFAA on a memorable opening session and a wonderful conference.  Swil Kanim music can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/violindian.