Help us Build the History Archive!

Calling all seasoned NCSA attendees! We're currently working on a historic timeline of our organization...and we need your help.  Before our past Executive Director, mentor and dear friend, Jim Finnemeyer, passed away in April 2023, he painstakingly sifted through boxes that included years of student leadership items and advisor training history.  Two of those boxes are lovingly labeled “NA4SA”.  It was important to Jim, the current board of directors and all of those who came before us that we keep a record of the work that we have accomplished and the memories that we have shared.  Highlighting the past will help those who become members in the future to see where we have been and how we have evolved over the years.  I am reminded of the memorials in our nation’s capital that are there so that future generations can understand our past and the culture of our country.  In a similar way, our board would like to create a “memorial” of our organization. 

Oscar Wilde once wrote, “Anyone can make history, but only the great ones write about it.”  Let’s take this opportunity to reflect, remember and write our history.  With this in mind, we have created this page to collect and share photos and other artifacts from the over five decades that NAWD and (now) NA4SA have impacted Student Activity Professionals.  On this page, you’ll find links to a new History Google Drive Folder that is subdivided into Decade Subfolders.

In each Decade Subfolder you will find a year folder with a title such as “2015-Niagara Falls, NY”.   We are hoping that you can take a stroll down memory lane and find any items that you can SCAN and UPLOAD to the corresponding folders of the conferences that you attended.  Here are some ideas for items to include as we build these Decade Subfolders, and our historical archive…

• Photos of participants
• Scans of program covers, conference speakers, logos, schedules , etc.
• Google doc of a personal story from that conference.
• Conference highlight videos

If you physically own a past program or other artifacts and are willing to donate them to our “Museum of NAWD/NA4SA/NCSA”, please bring them with you to the NCSA and drop them off at registration.  If you are unable to attend the NCSA but would like to donate any items, you can mail them to our official “keeper of artifacts”, NA4SA Registrar Kathy Coll at 174 Link Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15237.

At some point in the future, we are hoping to set up a booth in the Hall of Exhibitors called “The History of NAWD & NA4SA” – think of the fun we can all have while reliving some of our favorite memories.  A sincere thank you to anyone who can help us with this endeavor!