2015 AIRS Conference Scholarship Winner

Sara Coyle with Paraquad was the winner of the MAK-AIRS scholarship for the 2015 AIRS National Conference. Please read below to hear about her experience.

"I have never won a Missouri lottery but I sure got lucky when MAK-AIRS randomly picked Paraquad, my organization, for the scholarship trip to our national conference in Dallas. As our representative, I knew I had been given a great opportunity to brush up on old skills and learn the latest advances in our field. I packed my suitcase and my business cards and flew to the great state of Texas.

Although I've been doing information and referral for 19 years, my experience of the national conference was unique. I learned a lot from the program's speakers and workshops. But I also picked up new insights by chatting and sharing stories with other I&R specialists. In one informal group we compared our methods of outcome measures. In another, we talked about providing tax preparation services for older adults. Having the chance to talk to my peers about our satisfactions and challenges was a great bonding experience and the camaraderie could not be beat.

The workshops offered were on so many different and timely topics it was difficult to choose which ones to attend. I narrowed them down to workshops dealing with quality assurance programs, culture of poverty, latest updates for HIPAA, national policy updates in aging and disability. I also knew I wanted to broaden my knowledge of services available to veterans so I was very excited to attend a workshop by the Wounded Warrior Project Resource Center. This impressive charitable organization provides unique and direct programs and services to injured military members. They offer peer support, career counseling, education services, benefit services, adaptive sports programs and many more.

The conference wasn't all business. AIRS hosted a wonderful evening at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science for attendees. The museum is an architectural marvel and we enjoyed a delicious Mexican buffet. Dallas has a beautiful downtown area. It is so inviting and accessible to walk around to the various museums and attractions.

Taking part in the national conference gave me a rejuvenation and enthusiasm for providing information and referral. I am very grateful to MAK-AIRS for the opportunity. One of the highlights from Dallas was learning my hometown is going to be the host for the 2016 national conference! I am so excited to show off St. Louis next year to my new contacts from across the country and repeat the wonderful experience I had in Dallas."