Blogging My Experience on the NAEA Board
Hi! I am Dr. Aimee Burgamy and next Sunday, March 7th, I will officially become the Middle Level Division Director elect for NAEA--the National Art Education Association. I am starting this blog at the suggestion of an incredible art educator, Kim Soule, from Bowling Green, Kentucky who is currently the Secondary Division Director. She did this during her term to share her experiences as part of the NAEA leadership team for her constituents, and to help encourage and guide future NAEA leaders. Another board member, Kathy Rulien-Bareis mentioned at that meeting, that when she ran and was elected to serve on the board she imagined one thing; but the lived reality was quite different than what she had expected. Granted, no one could have anticipated a global pandemic but I have heard from other former members (prior to Covid-19) that this sentiment reflected their experiences as well. So, I will set as a goal, to explore in one of my early posts why I wanted to serve and what I expect. Then, we will revisit this in 2023! It should be interesting.
At today's board meeting the Division Directors and Regional Representative all reported on what they and their divisions have been doing, since our last board meeting in November. We received additional information on our strategic vision (pilars, mission, and vision statement), and reviewed position statement that had been wordsmithed and scrutinized by committee members and the delegates assembly.
This meeting comes with a 278 page agenda (digital not printed). Other board meetings have agendas of similar lengths. I am an "elect" and as such, I attend the meetings to get up to speed on our organizations current initiatives, but I do not get to comment or vote. When we were in person we "elects" sat at a small table, or tables, off to the side--a position some called the "kids table."
At today's meeting, I was honored to be nominated with Jeremy Holien (Administration & Supervision Director Elect) for the Executive/Finance Committee. The sitting board voted and I was selected! I am proud to serve and I am excited at the prospect of being on the EFC and the Board.
Today's zoom meeting which was 6 hours (in 2 three-hour sessions) follows yesterday's Virtual Award Ceremony and keynote address which was another day of Zoom. I hardly know where I will find the strength to zoom with my six classes of middle schoolers next week. I think we all would have prefered to be in-person rather than going for a high score on consecutive days of multi-hour zooming! This having been said, there are always jewels of inspiration in what others are doing in our profession that helps feed my soul along with the knowledge that there were more than 50 art educators on that zoom who choose to prioritize service to our profession and spend their Saturday and Sunday this way.
Congratulations!
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