Newsletter

February, 2008

Dear WAVES members and friends,

We have a tentative agenda now available of our next annual Western Association of Veteran Education Specialists (WAVES) Conference. As President of WAVES, I would like to extend an invitation to you to attend our annual training conference. The conference will be held July 20-24 in Portland, Oregon. We will have conference information available on our web site: www.uswaves.org.

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. Certifying officials face a variety of issues in order to provide quality service to our students. Our emphasis is on providing certifying officials with critical, up-to-date information they need to be able to service their students and at the same time meet VA regulatory requirements. This is an important goal to us for each conference. The agenda committee for this year’s conference is continuing to work diligently to create a slate of events and training sessions worth the expense of your personal time and scarce travel budgets.

We have made some changes to our basic conference format this year based on suggestions from our executive committee. Please take time to carefully review the agenda.

The conference will be held at the Red Lion Hotel on the River, 909 N Hayden Island Drive, Portland, Oregon. Portland is a wonderful location and it enhances its beautiful natural surroundings with a healthy dose of urban vitality and a relaxed yet sophisticated lifestyle. Spectacular parks and gardens flourish throughout the City of Roses. Historic landmarks and neighborhoods show off the city’s commitment to preserving its rich past, while Pioneer Courthouse Square, a bustling pedestrian-only space in the heart of what is now the city center, reflects the effective urban planning that makes Portland so pleasant.

Portland has so many great attractions. They have the Classical Chinese Garden, which is a one-block walled enclave filled with magical stone paths that wind through a beautiful landscape of water, stone, plantings and Chinese pavilions. Portland’s Saturday Market occurs every Saturday & Sunday and they have over 300 vendors that gather here for America’s largest handicrafts market. Washington Park has developed, over the years to encompass gardens, open spaces, great groves of evergreens, a zoo, and recreational facilities. Today, the park is one of Portland’s most popular outdoor playgrounds. Portland is an amazing location.

We want to invite you to come to hospitality on Sunday evening, July 20th to share pizza. This is a great time to meet fellow certifying officials in a casual setting. Dress for entire conference is causal. Also, don't miss breakfast on Monday, July 21st starting at 8:00 am. Monday evening the 21st we also invite any newcomers to join us going for a Dutch treat dinner so everyone has someone to share good food, companionship and enjoy a relaxing time (anyone is welcome to join with us). We plan for the Presidential Reception on Wednesday evening, July 23, to be at the hotel for all conference attendees. We're planning a special dinner and dancing. As we develop more detailed plans on this we'll forward more information to the membership.

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 Bob Klaassen, at fax number 580-774-3795. This will enable us to make sure to be able to get accurate food counts for meals for the conference. 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 come 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.

OPTIONAL TOURS!!!! SEE www.uswaves.org for detailed descriptions, costs, and registration deadlines for the tours.
**There is a separate registration form to register for the optional tours and is included on the optional tours page information.**

We are very pleased to be able to offer the opportunity to go on some awesome optional tours both before and after the WAVES Conference. One tour is for all day Sunday, July 20th, before the conference begins and is a fantastic chance to go visit the ocean. Also, on Sunday, is a tour for the afternoon only, targeted for those who may be flying in Sunday morning, but would like to do something special Sunday afternoon before the conference begins. This tour will be the Portland City Tour. You'll get to go to many spots including the International Rose Test Gardens. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, a rare treat, a chance to view the incredible views of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, plus you get to see some spectacular waterfalls. See www.uswaves.org for details. Don't wait! Make sure to reserve a spot to go on one of these once in a life time tours in Oregon!

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

Sincerely,

Vicki Henson
President of WAVES