AMEA’s collegiate chapter of NAfME has had a tremendously successful semester! Through the cooperation of the sixteen chapters in our state, the collegiate division has been able to jump- start the new ‘Buddy Chapter’ system, hold the annual Collegiate Summit and attend AMEA’s 2020 Professional Development Conference.

The Buddy Chapter system was started to give collegiate members the opportunity to network with students from neighboring universities. The chapters are broken up by size and geographical location. This also gives chapters the opportunity to see what is working well for other chapters and to be able to grow from that. All in all, we have seen a major spike in unity between collegiate members from neighboring universities and look forward to seeing how the Buddy Chapter system continues to grow.

On October 27, 2019, the annual Collegiate Summit was hosted at Samford University. The summit recorded 40 members in attendance, nearly doubling last year’s attendance. Members had the opportunity to hear from presenters Dr. Becky Halliday (The University of Montevallo), Captain Brian Walden (Samford University), Mrs. Deanna Bell (Vestavia Hills Elementary East), Dr. Anne Witt (The University of Alabama), and Dr. Ted Hoffman (The University of Montevallo). A new teacher panel was also interviewed to give collegiate members a deeper look into what the first year of teaching is like. Concluding with a networking dinner, this year’s annual summit was a huge success!

This year’s Professional Development Conference was a great experience for our collegiate division. With sessions ranging from topics such as interviewing skills to motivating students, collegiate members gained practical information about life as a future music educator. On Thursday night, members gathered for the Collegiate/Higher Education division mixer. This was a time for mingling and networking. Members were able to sit, play games, and meet other collegiate members during this time. The division also gathered at the collegiate luncheon to discuss the past year and elect a new board to serve on the 20-21 collegiate executive board. The new board members are as follows:

President: Jackson Vaughan, Samford University

Vice President/President-Elect: Emma Tosney, The University of Alabama Secretary: Grace Waldrop, University of North Alabama

Treasurer: Jacob Russell, University of North Alabama

Looking forward to the semester ahead, the executive board is planning on creating new forms of communication between chapters. A monthly newsletter highlighting individual chapters, workshops, and other events will begin in February. The collegiate division will also continuously update its social media presence (@cnafme_al) and focus on what is happening within the individual chapters in the state, as well as the work of the executive board. During this semester, the executive board encourages all chapters to continue meeting and networking

with their buddy chapter. Overall, it has been a great semester for AMEA’s collegiate division and the division looks forward to what the next few months have in store!