A Look Back at National Conference 2018

​Hey AMTAS! It has been nearly 4 months since national conference and it’s crazy to think about how time flies when you are having fun! Before I get in to looking back at conference, I wanted to take a chance to introduce myself, so that you know who is writing these blog posts! 
 
My name is Jordan Marshall, and I am currently in my last semester of coursework at Drury University! I am a vocal primary and have been classically singing since early high school. Along with being secretary of AMTAS, I am also secretary of MWRAMTAS, and president of my school’s music therapy organization, Drury SMTA. After I am done at Drury, I will be doing my internship at “A Place to Be” in Middleburg, VA. Music has always been one of the most important things in my life and finding music therapy and AMTA was one of the best things that has ever happened to me! In my free time, I also really enjoy organizing things and working on my overall wellness through working out and watching Netflix! I am super excited to serve as secretary of AMTAS and hope that through this blog I can keep us all connected! 

New Mission Statement

The mission of the Student Affairs Advisory Board and AMTAS is to provide guidance, support, and knowledge to the American Music Therapy Association Students and regional boards, be the communication liaison between students and their faculty, act as an educational resource concerning members learning and administration of bylaws, and uphold rules, regulations, implementation of charges, ethical guidelines, and standards of practice. 

A Regional Snapshot: 

It is truly inspiring to see how much all of the different regions of AMTAS contribute to making our profession better! Here are such a FEW of the MANY things that the different regions have accomplished in 2018! 

Great Lakes Region: 
​“On behalf of all students within the GLR, we would like to say “Thank You” to everyone who supported our online sweatshirt/pullover fundraiser! We were able to raise roughly $1,000 that will go towards sending students to our regional conference each spring!”

Mid-Atlantic Region: 
The Mid-Atlantic region is working on a  “give back” fundraiser which will give back to Music Gives Back Organization, as well as doing other fundraisers like, "This Music Therapist Runs on Coffee" mugs. 

Midwestern Region: 
The Midwest Region awarded two scholarships to MWR students this year, and also did a "Midwest Volunteer Day" where schools from all over the region all volunteered in their community on the same day to advocate for music therapy and create community throughout the region. 

New England Region:
​The New England Region awarded two scholarships to their students this year, as well as revamping their fundraising efforts! They ended up raising approximately $700 for their Community Giving Campaign. 

South-Eastern Report:
The South Eastern Region worked a lot on their communication with all of the schools in their region through social media efforts! They gave out two scholarships in their region, as well as doing a giveaway for an AMTA membership! 

South Western Region: 
The South Western Region awarded two scholarships at regional conference last year, and had a lot of projects going on including "Music Therapy in the Community", which promoted music therapy in the community, i.e. community drum circles, "Singo" Night, Music Therapy Awareness Week. 
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Western Region:
The Western Region has been working hard on their social media through newsletters and online master classes and are also working on being more active on their website! Along with that, they raised over $400 on their fundraising efforts with the sale of bumper stickers and guitar picks! 

Scholarship Corner 

​We are so fortunate that AMTAS has the funds to give away scholarships each year! Each of the people that won this past conference deserved it and deserve some praise, so here are two snaps for them *snaps twice*. Below are the names of the 2018 scholarship winners! 

Scholarship Winners 
·      STARS Undergrad: Sophia Heitkamp 
·      Stars Internship: Emily Zeitz 
·      Stars Graduate: Julian Brill 
·      CBMT Scholarship: Melinda Glass 
·      AMTA Membership: Katherine Long 
·       Regional Support Funds: SER receives $300, GLR receives $100