29 Apr President’s Blog
Hi CAFAA,
Well, this is my first blog after my first 4 months as the President of CAFAA. As I thought about what I should write, I kept thinking about the family we have in financial aid and the many people that helped me along the way. When I first began my career in FA many moons ago as a work-study student, I never thought in a million years this would become a career for me. I think about all of the folks and great mentors I had along the way: Cindy Hejl, Beverly Brown, Theresa Godinez, Julia Alexander, Jill Robertson and Bruce Goetz (Director of Admissions at CSM). These people helped frame the professional I am today and I would like to thank them for all the assistance and many hours they provided mentoring me as I navigated this profession.
This is an example of the bonds that are formed not only within financial aid, but also within the higher education industry. When I became the president-elect last year, I had been away from serving our state and regional association for the last few years and as soon as I got back in the saddle it truly reminded me why I chose this profession. The CAFAA crew has been great to work with and we are hard at work moving our association forward with the hopes of providing you all with networking opportunities, training and additional ways to get involved.
We recently implemented a new membership dues structure and have opened up membership to provide opportunities for your institution. Whether it’s your Registrar’s office or Admissions office, each department can take advantage of the training opportunities we’ll provide this year. We hope every institution within the state of Colorado will take advantage of this opportunity moving forward.
Throughout my career, I have formed great bonds with folks around the state and to have the ability to lead our state association is truly special. It motivates me to get more folks involved. Without the people I mentioned above, I would not have been able to achieve the things I have within my career.
In closing, I am truly humbled and honored to serve our state association as President for 2015 and look forward to the next year as we are progressively looking for ways to benefit all of our members and afford you all with opportunities to grow professionally within our industry. Please be on the lookout for training opportunities coming up this summer and fall. For those institutions that have not renewed their membership or for those that are new members, please don’t miss out on this opportunity to be a part of this great organization.
Truly,
Jerry Martinez
CAFAA President 2015
