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All About ACU

Admission Counselor University, also known as ACU, is an annual event hosted by Iowa ACAC’s Professional Development Committee. It is geared toward new (1 year or less) professionals in the Admissions profession. This year, ACU will take place at the University of Northern Iowa, July 16-17. It is a great event to attend; now I'm going to tell you why!

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Fighting Food Insecurity on College Campuses - Eat Well Series, Part 3

More research is needed to accurately estimate the number of college students in Iowa facing food insecurity and hunger. However, as the problem grows, college campuses are finding ways to accurately assess the problem and effectively implement solutions to deal with it.

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LEAPing to Success!

The Iowa ACAC Inclusion, Access, and Success committee chaired by Juana Hollingsworth and Jesus Lizarraga-Estrada recently hosted another successful L.E.A.P Conference (Leading, Excelling, Academically and Professionally). The leadership conference is for underrepresented high school students in the state of Iowa. The conference this year was hosted at the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Ankeny Campus on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Last year's conference was hosted in Cedar Rapids at Mount Mercy University.

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Prepping for the Spring Conference

The Iowa ACAC Spring Conference is rapidly approaching! We look forward to you joining us May 19-20 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, IA! 
The Conference Planning Committee wants to give you an update on how you can prepare for the conference with a dos and don’ts list!

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The Admissions Scandal - Friendly Reminder for Doing What is Right

With the recent tumult in the news regarding the current college admissions scandal, our profession has been challenged and placed in the spotlight of scrutiny. Although most of us are not directly affected by this in our day to day responsibilities, the events of this highly public disparagement has caused much discussion in our profession and allows us to take a look in the mirror at our own practices and policies.

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Be a Better Listener - For Your Students and Yourself!

Working in the fast-paced environments that are admissions and school counseling sometimes it can be hard to remember to slow down and take time to listen. To listen to our colleagues, our superiors, our students, and, frankly, ourselves. We can also probably all recall times where a problem may have been alleviated, if we would have simply taken the time to listen.

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Eat Well Series-Part I: What We Heard!

In the March edition of Scenes, we introduced a multipart series, “Eat Well, Live Well” - if you missed it, you can catch up here. In this first edition, Tom Paulsen, Iowa ACAC President-Elect, shared some great places around the state to grab a bite. We asked Iowa ACAC members what spots around the state needed to be added to that list and here is what you told us:

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Be an Avenue of Change

The first year of our Iowa ACAC Cares Campaign has been a success and we're topping it off with a FINAL collection drive at our FINAL college fair at NIACC in Mason City.

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Introducing the Rural and Small Town Special Interest Group

This sounds like a great opportunity for secondary and postsecondary professionals in Iowa - ANYONE can join! You don't have to be an Iowa Image result for rural iowaACAC or NACAC member (but we'd sure love to have you!)

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Eat Well Series - Part I

This is the first part of an Iowa ACAC multi-part series. Join us as we explore food in Iowa…best kept dining secrets, food on college campuses, food insecurities in Iowa, and so much more! As a part of this series, we will be asking for your input to share with fellow Iowa ACAC members

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Does it Spark Joy?

Whether you’re new to the team or an admissions lifer, you probably have an excess of items in your office that you no longer need. Photo: BSGStudio

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International Student Visit Opportunities

Some of our member colleges and universities are hosting student visit days just for international students.

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School Counselor Self-Care

As we sit in the middle of winter, many of us are probably feeling the “blues.” Students, teachers, and parents are getting restless as we await Photo: BSGStudiowarmer weather and the end of the school year, and we school counselors are busy trying to get our seniors to the end of the year and preparing for registration for 2019-2020.

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New Year’s Resolution: Make a Difference

Did you know only 8% of people actually keep their New Year’s resolution? There are many reasons people can’t stick to their resolutions, from setting too many of them to getting derailed by small failures. A fantastic resolution you could keep this year is to attend Visit the Hill and make a difference!

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What's Your Office Doing?

Now that admissions staff and students are back from winter break, many admissions offices are conducting their winter all-staff training. Although there are many similarities in how we all train and refresh staff on important topics, there’s a lot we can learn from each other about the best way to learn more about our campuses and improve in the work that we do to support students. To learn more about how different offices handle all-staff training, I spoke with Marcus Phillips from the University of Iowa, Tom Heiar from the University of Northern Iowa, and Drew Shradel from Cornell College.

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Oh, baby!

Having a baby, whether it’s your first or third, can be a very exciting, and stressful, time in your life. For me, I am anticipating my third, and final, pregnancy in mid-January 2019. While this pregnancy was planned, pregnancy in itself doesn’t always come with perfect timelines. I was fortunate that for my first two pregnancies, they both hit in what admissions professionals would call the golden time of year to have a kid…the month of May! Wahoo! However, kid number three didn’t get the memo, and while January isn’t the worst time to have a kid in our profession, I will say guilt was one of my first emotions.

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How the City of Chicago is Feeding the American Dream

Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of the City of Chicago and former President Obama’s chief of staff, believes in the American Dream and the right to an affordable education. Because of this belief, he has assisted in the creation of the “Chicago Star Scholarship” program.

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Happy New Year from Iowa ACAC!

We’re barely into 2019 and I’m already tired of the expression “New Year, New You.” According to U.S. News & World Report, 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. Upon hearing this, my initial reaction was ”I wonder how realistic those resolutions were…”

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Thanksgiving Tree

We have heard it, read it and likely said it ourselves:

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Iowa ACAC Annual Conference Update

Our annual conference will look a bit different this year and it is all to benefit you, our members! 

The theme for the 2019 conference is “Change is Necessary for Growth” as the landscape for college admissions continues to evolve. 

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