Week Six: Feeling at Home!

Yet another amazing week in the books! 

With it being Spring Break for most schools around Arizona, the week was a little slower with less presentations. Nevertheless, I attended four presentations: two on substance abuse, one on healthy relationships, and another on body image.

As always it was such a pleasure to join Shane in his presentations on substance abuse (if you’ll remember I had the opportunity to hear his presentation 5 times during the presentations in Scottsdale I talked about a few weeks back).

There weren't many big surprises with the presentations this week. Though with the extra office time I was able to analyze even more surveys so that I can truly start analyzing these results.

A couple of especially cool things about the week: The office had our regular Tuesday staff meetings where each person reports on what’s been happening in their specific area. This week I had the opportunity to talk about how my research has been going and some of the conclusions that the research is leading to. It was amazing to share with the rest of the staff, and-- with a birthday in the office, my supervisors baby crawling around, and a lot more glittering (and now spray painting!) to prep for the Gala—Tuesday was an awesome day.

On another note, next week is Spring Break!!! (Which isn’t nearly as exciting when you don’t go to school anymore) But… it is this time. I’m very excited and blessed to be attending the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC next week. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. Every year in Washington, DC they hold an event called Policy Conference (PC), which attracts over fifteen thousand pro-Israel advocates from across the world. PC is the largest gathering of America’s pro-Israel community. Through demonstrations of groundbreaking Israeli innovations, keynote speeches by American and Israeli leaders, inspiring moments on stage, and intimate educational sessions, Policy Conference delegates such as me experience the full scale of pro-Israel activism in three powerful days. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to see keynote speakers such as Vice President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (via satellite), Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and the leading presidential candidates. This amazing opportunity plus some snow in DC is sure to make for an amazing experience and the perfect way to spend any week. 

See you soon!

Shir