Let me tell you the story of how a girl from a small town in
Kansas over came everything to make her dream a reality for her and so many
others. A dream of hosting a regional conference and bringing it back to KU
after 20 years. A dream that everyone
said was too hard, too long, or not worth it. A dream that came true….
This all started a year and a half ago when I returned from
NACURH 2012 in Boulder, Colorado. I will never forget having a meeting with my
advisor and telling him I wanted to host a conference. He sighed and said, “I
knew this was coming… OK. Let’s get started.” And we haven’t stopped moving
since. I researched and began shoulder
tapping and bringing people in from AURH and Hall Governments. The next thing I
knew, we were at MACURH 2012 watching SLU win the honor of hosting MACURH 2013.
I looked at Laura and said, “That’s going to be us next year.”
We have spent the last eight months writing a 56-page bid,
recording a wonderful 5-minute video, and perfecting a 25-minute
presentation. It was all worth it. It
will always be worth it.
OCTOBER 26, 2014
There is a period of time I will forever know as the
24-Hours-of-Never-Ending Anxiety, aka October 26, 2013. The Bid Team knew we were presenting first at
8 am, so we all were awake and getting ready at the ungodly hour of 5:45am. We
made it to SLU’s campus and were told there were technological difficulties and
that we would go in a little bit. It was like waiting for a baby to come: ten
members of a family sitting around a waiting room just hoping for good news.
Finally, it was time to go in and set up. We had the room to ourselves for five
minutes, we did a Prezi check, sound check, and a quick “1, 2, 3, ROCK CHALK!”
Our presentation had begun.
I began by welcoming, introducing and thanking various
individuals and we all turned to watch our AMAZING video.
We all took turns going through our sections of the bid and
telling the region how we hoped MACURH 2014 would look like. I was so proud of
my team! They were doing amazing in everyway! I, on the other hand, have no
memory of speaking coherently. I remember stuttering and slurring my words, but
according to my team, this is not true! It must have been the adrenaline.
However, about 15 minutes into the presentation, the “timer” held up a number
5. I had no idea what it meant because I knew we had 10 minutes left. I minute later, we got a 4 and we still had
several slides. Laura and I stole a glance of quick panic and silently knew to
skip a few slides to try and end it quickly. I have no idea how we understood
each other in that moment, but I’m just glad we did. I got up to try and end
and in the middle of my words, I hear “STOP.” I. Panicked.
But after a moment, they realized we still had five minutes
and we were allowed to continue. I (according to my team) jumped right back in
like nothing happened and we went back to our skipped slides. We ended with this amazing KU video.
After, we were expecting a GRUELING question and answer
session from the NCC’s in the region. Shockingly, we only had a record 4
questions before someone moved to end Q&A.
We. Were. Shocked.
We spent the next several minutes decompressing and just
celebrating for doing such an amazing job! I was, again, so proud of them and
all we had accomplished and I can think of no other individuals that I would
rather have gone through this with. We had left everything we could in that
boardroom and all we could do now was wait….
As per regional practice, my advisor and I were going to be
told before closing ceremonies so that regardless of the decision, we could
prepare the bid team and ourselves. I’ve had many people ask me how I reacted
when I found out and the best answer I can give is that I “Miss America’ed it”
hardcore. I was, of course, crying and
emotional that I finally had an answer! I called my mom and dad, talked with my
advisor, and prepared myself to face my team.
They were waiting for me in another room, standing in a
circle holding hands. They were clearly waiting for me to join them, but I
could wait that long. I walked in, tears still falling and said,
“We won.”
Hugging, more crying, and excited whispers followed with the
promise that we could not tell a soul until tonight, including the rest of the
KU people.
That night, the bid team had a table to themselves and we
were so excited to finally be able to share this incredible news with everyone.
I had been actively ignoring text messages all day and I just wanted to scream
“KU WON” very, very loudly.
FINALLY, the last award was about to be given out… MACURH
2014. The Bid Team held hands and closed our waiting to finally hear what we
had wanted for so long….
“MACURH 2014 will be hosted… at the University of Kansas!”
After I was sworn in, there were pictures, transitional
meetings, and information overload… but I loved every minute of it. We were no
longer a bid team; we were a conference staff. We have 370 days to plan and
execute a regional conference…. but for right now, we are celebrating. We
stayed up late watching videos and eating pizza, just being friends. We defied
the odds, we ignored the people who told us we couldn’t and that it was too
hard…. We did it. And I couldn’t be more proud to be a University of Kansas
Jayhawk.
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| From Bid Team... |
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| TO CONFERENCE STAFF! |
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| And Regional Board Member!!! |
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| KU Delegation! |
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| Being Sworn In |
