Most of the month of October was spent on the East Coast, starting with a Joint Council meeting in New York City at the end of September. Fortuitously--or, come to think of it, maybe it was actually planned that way--the first ever Campus Need Analysis Roundtable started the day after Joint Council in Baltimore. Being a bit fuzzy on the actual distance between NYC and Baltimore, I asked Heather for travel advice on how to get from one meeting to the next and she graciously invited me to join her road trip since she also planned to participate in the Roundtable.
Before hitting the road, however, Heather was the speaker at The Spence School's Financial Aid for Parents night. After a quick car tour around New York City, we headed to The Spence School and, arriving a bit early, relaxed on the roof, which provided a grand view of Central Park. The FA Night went well and I made myself useful by advancing the .pptx slides. The trip to Baltimore was uneventful and very fun and the Roundtable was very worthwhile.
After the Roundtable, I returned home for a few days, then flew to
Washington DC for the fall Financial Aid Standards and Services Advisory
Committee, which was held in Alexandria this year. Having never been
to DC, Craig decided to accompany me, despite the government shut down. Unlike prior years, it was rainy and cold; Craig had to buy a coat for his Capitol Mall explorations. Flying in a day early, we were able to take the bus to Mt. Vernon and explore President Washington's home on the Potomac. Maintained by private donations, it was not affected by the federal government shut-down.
Returning from Washinton, DC, I was actually at home for a whole week before flying to New York City for the College Board National Forum. Still recovering from a nasty cold I picked up at FASSAC, I spent lots of time in my hotel room. On the 39th floor. I have concluded that big urban cities are much more appealing from a high floor of a Hyatt or Hilton.
President Obama was speaking in The Bronx, making the afternoon commute to the airport long and tedious. Taking surface streets to JFK, my driver pointed out the different neighborhoods along the way and shared his immigration story and I'll never grow tired of hearing that the United States has offered economic opportunity and freedom from tyranny and poverty. And, maybe best of all, that educational opportunity is abundant, accessible, treasured and utilized.
