happy new year, post leaders!

The next Post Leaders Workshop is being held February 8-9, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas. Currently, we have 14 attendees registered. The SAME National Board of Direction recognizes the Post Leaders Workshops as essential to the future of SAME and has increased the SAME HQ budget for these workshops.  The SAME Board is asking each Post to send a Post Board Member AND a Young Member to one of the workshops.

Further, the SAME Board amended the criteria for Distinguished Post in 2008 to include sending a Post Board Member to a workshop; Medium and Large Posts also are required to send a Young Member as well to a Post Leaders Workshop in 2008 in order to qualify for recognition as a Distinguished Post.

Attendees from Medium and Large Posts are responsible for the cost of their travel to the Post Leaders Workshop. SAME HQ provides accommodations for two nights (Feb7-8, 2008) as well as food and beverage for Friday and Saturday. For Small Posts, SAME HQ is offering a stipend for one Board Member or Young Member to attend a 2008 Post Leaders Workshop. The stipend will mean a reimbursement of up to $300 for Posts in the Continental U.S. and up to $500 for Posts outside the Continental U.S.

In conjunction with the February Post Leaders Workshop, the SAME College Outreach Committee is sponsoring a Student Leadership Workshop. Student leaders from each of the 16 Student Chapters are expected to attend. Currently, only 11 Student leaders have applied.

The list of Posts with Student Chapters currently signed up to send a student is shown below. Priority will be given to students from an official Student Chapter, that has a charter on file with SAME HQ. If room is available, other students will be considered.

Posts with Student Chapters that have applied to send one student are as follows:
El Paso Area
Hampton Roads
Houston
Huntington
Kentuckiana
Kittyhawk
Northern VA
Sacramento
Virginia Peninsula
Denver (tentative)
Ft. Leonard Wood- does not have a student chapter but is nominating a student

The Student Leadership Workshop attendees are responsible for travel costs only. (Students should be reimbursed for travel by the Post sponsoring their attendance, since Young Member training furthers the education and training goals of SAME.) The cost for accommodations for Feb. 7–8, 2008 will be provided by SAME HQ. Food and beverage will be provided for Student Leadership Workshop attendees for those two days.

The Student Leadership Workshop application deadline is Jan. 11, 2008 and the Post Leaders Workshop registration closes on Jan. 16, 2008, COB.

With the additional requirement for attendance at Post Leaders Workshops to become a 2008 Distinguished Post, it is important that Posts take advantage of this opportunity! We are able to host up to 70 attendees per workshop, so take advantage of this terrific opportunity to meet and work with your fellow Post leaders!

The fall workshop is scheduled for Sept. 5-6, 2008 in Gulfport, Miss. The hotel has not been selected; however, additional information will but will be posted online as soon as it is available.

Please contact Lorrie Cerny at lcerny@same.org with any questions.

Diana Dawkins
Director, Member and Post Support