This Thursday, the 1998-1999 ASB Board officially takes power. I still vividly remember the excitement, the nervousness, and the anticipation. There are some things that I wish, in hindsight, had been said.

        First for the students, remember that these people are here for you. They're no one special, they are just like you. An ASB board fails if they become separated and locked in their "ivory towers," and I can tell you that none of these eight people want that. At the beginning of my term, I came up with the idea of keeping food and soda in my office as to encourage students to come talk to me. I ended up making lots of friends in the ASB Board and Spiritual Development, as they liked having access to that food, but very few students came in.

        The ASB Board is also not a group of people who think they are perfect. This group coming in is extremely talnted, but they do not know everything. To help this year to work, they need your ideas. I remember one frustrating experience, where a student shared what would have been a great idea for an activity, but it was one that had to take place during a certain time of year, and he only told me two days before we would have had to do it! Each ASB Officer maintains five office hours a week. These office hours are for you to be able to have access to them. Please take advantage of that.

        For the new board, good luck. There are a few negatives to your position. These positions will dominate your life if you let them. Trust your people and delegate. Above all else, keep that relationship with God strong. Sometimes, people with low self-esteem will target you as a someone to put down so they can feel better. Also, the best way to draw attention to your job is to do it badly. If you do your job well (unless you're a raging egomaniac like yours truly), a lot of the time, people won't realize it.

        But these negatives are outweighed by peaks that I couldn't even begin to describe if I were given the whole paper. I can tell you sincerely that walking away is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But, Eric, Gina, Josh, Kristin, Alicia, Heather, Brian and especially Rene, know that my best wishes and prayers are with you, and I know that you're going to have a great year.

        As to you, PLNC, I hope you had fun. I know I certainly did. Maybe when we go up to live with the Big Guy Upstairs, He'll need an Activities Director and we can do it all again. But until then, never stop having fun.

        Exeunt.