From Your President ...

Iam excited to introduce myself as your current WAFLT President! I have enjoyed my time serving on the WAFLT board in the roles of Membership Renewals, Grants and Scholarship Chair, and over the last two years as President-Elect and Awards Chair. I am looking forward to the next two years serving as your WAFLT President. I have been teaching Spanish at Onalaska High School for the last 18 years, and I have also served as Spanish Club and Spanish Honor Society Advisor as well as Curriculum Chair. Additionally, I was involved with the AATSP-WI board in the role of NSE Coordinator for several years, until the National Office absorbed this role.

As we head into spring, I find myself reflecting on what WAFLT has meant to me. Through professional development at Fall Conference, Summer Institute, MOPI Workshops, Curriculum Writing Days, the opportunity to network and collaborate with other amazing educators from around the state and beyond, as well as opportunities for grants, scholarships, and awards, WAFLT has impacted me both professionally and personally. It serves as a reminder of where we want WAFLT to be in the future and how it can serve its membership. As we all are aware, everyone has experienced hardships, whether it be individuals, families, businesses, or organizations

Unfortunately WAFLT is not immune to these same challenges. We have certainly seen a decrease in our memberships over the last few years, impacting our ability to offer the same amount of scholarships and grants, causing us to make very difficult decisions in order to balance our budget.

This has me asking the question: What can we do? Well, we can all continue to maintain our membership, present sessions at Fall Conference, attend Summer Institute, encourage our colleagues to become members, and look for ways to volunteer within