Newsletter

March 8, 2010

Dear WAVES members and friends, This year’s annual Western Association of Veteran Education Specialists (WAVES) Conference will be held July 25-29 in Las Vegas, Nevada and we have a tentative agenda now available on our web site www.uswaves.org. As President of WAVES, I would like to extend an invitation to you to attend this conference to receive valuable training and up-to-the-minute information on the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The foundation of the WAVES conference is to provide a friendly forum to assist you as a certifying official to increase your expertise in serving our students utilizing VA educational benefits. We are meeting just before the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the Post - 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 - "New GI Bill" - Chapter 33 and we know that this has provided many challenges for certifying officials, their schools and of course the VA. We have again this year made changes to our normal agenda and we are placing a strong emphasis on providing the opportunity for in-depth training about the Post 9/11 GI Bill - Chapter 33.

The conference will be held at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino, 3700 W. Flamingo Road; Las Vegas, NV. The hotel is located very near the Las Vegas strip.

We want to invite you to come to hospitality on Sunday evening, July 25th to meet early arrivals. This is a great time to meet fellow certifying officials in a casual setting. Dress for the entire conference is causal. We are working on plans for a Sunday excursion to Hoover Dam for those interested in venturing beyond the city limits. We are also planning to have Presidential Lunch on Tuesday July 27th where we will present our WAVES Awards.

If your institution requires you to process your WAVES Conference Registration through your business office, please print out a blank form, identifying your contact information, and identifying the meals you wish to participate in at conference. Fax it to Cindy Watts, at fax number (918) 631-2622. This will enable us to make sure to be able to get accurate count for workshop accommodations. Please, do not wait until your business office processes the check!

I encourage you to plan to come and meet the certifying officials within the Muskogee Regional Processing Office's district. We welcome the opportunity to have you join us and develop friendships with certifying officials in the western region. We have a great working relationship with the Department of Veteran Affairs and the State Approving Agencies and we value the many contributions they make to our organization.

Our executive committee is looking forward to meeting you! See you in Las Vegas!

Sincerely,

Sharon Maggard
President of WAVES