Tools for Sustainability

This past week VISTAs from all over Utah joined to together to participate in our IST conference. After months of planning and tons of hard work by Carrie and Brian and many of the United Way UC staff. Our training event was at the Provo Marriott and lasted for 2 and a half days. It was a fun event packed with lots of good speakers, entertainment, useful classes and trainings and of course a chance to spend time with fellow VISTAs.

VISTAs have fun socializing before the beginning of the conference

We the opportunity to hear from many knowledgeable and successful speakers. We attended workshops on everything from media relations to sustainability. The workshops were taught by the CEO of United Way of Utah County, Bill Hulterstrom, Laurie Wilson, a BYU professor, a few professors in the Masters of Public Administration program at BYU and other knowledgeable community members.

Materials passed out workshops

At night we were able to hear from a key note speaker, Ruby Chacon, and watch a performance by BYU's Living Legends. One of our own, Raquel Quintana (a VISTA in the United Way office) wowed us all with her beautiful signing during this performance.

Ruby Chacon speaking to us about her cause
Raquel (in the black dress) after the Living Legends performance

At the end of the conference we were able to participate in service projects. Some made Valentines and Valentine's Day decorations for local non profits while others help sort food at the food bank. Some volunteered at Habitat for Humanity. It was a great way to end our conference and allowed us to get back to work doing what we love best, volunteering :) Raquel was kind enough to take pictures at her service project at Recreation and Habilitation (RAH). They made Valentine's Day decorations and brought some holiday spirit to their facility and to the those who participate in functions offered there!

VISTAs hard at work

Overall, it was a great experience. We all got to learn many things that we could take back with us and improve our VISTA project. My personal favorite thing about the conference was the final speaker, Aaron Miller. He spoke about sustainability and stakeholders. He talked about being a social entrepenuer. It was quite motivating. I hope that someday I will be a social enterpeneur and do great things (not that I'm not already working as a VISTA) but I learned a lot that I hope to use in the future.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the conference a success! It was a rewarding experience for us all (im sure!)