Bake Sale SUCCESS

The bake sale was a success!

We sold out of almost EVERYTHING!

AMAZING!

Thank you to all who contributed in any way!

1st Annual Bake Sale

We are excited to have our first annual bake sale!

Whoever wants to donate goodies and help man the table will be in for a real treat come January when we do something fun with our earnings!

Opening Social Re-Cap

First of all I want to thank those who were able to make it to the Opening Social last night! It was great to be able to explain and talk about some of the things that the alliance has to offer. For those unable to make it I wanted to do a quick re-cap so that we can get some things going if you want to participate in the Alliance this year. 

FIRST-Membership, to become a member of the AADA (the alliance of the american dental association) there is a $5 membership fee. You need to go to http://www.allianceada.org/membership.php and become a member-by doing this you can not only participate in our activites and gain access to all that the alliance assists us with, but it is a HUGE networking tool. I encourage EVERY member to go through and check out the site after you join and pay your $5. ALSO and this is IMPORTANT if you will go and become a member before next week & then let me know that you did so, there is a wonderful woman by the name of Debbie Schrank who is a good friend of Kasey Bruch-Nenn (our facilitator and liaison) she is a BIG believer in the Alliance and she has offered to match everyones $5 membership fee and give us $5 for each new sign up to go into our treasury. This treasury is what we can use to do our different activities. It will be a VERY worth while $5. Especially if you will go through the site and make use of the tools that are available to you. 

SECOND-I cannot stress enough the benefits of becoming members-but the greatest one that I see for us at this point in our lives is the networking it gives us. Not only with other student spouses going through similar things as us, but to the community of NATIONWIDE Dentists. Making connections with dentists all over the country who have gone through graduating and leaving Dental School and starting their own practices/joined practices/or have become employed by some other entity (military, large corporate dental facilities). Their knowledge is priceless and they are SO willing to help. There have many students, who's spouse is active in the alliance, who have gained jobs and found practices to join because of their connections through the alliance. 

THIRD- I have some of the documents that I handed out last night. The first is a small explanation of the things that membership can offer along with the websites of the blog that we have MUSOD, the facebook page that WE have, the facebook page the alliance has, and also the alliances website. The second attachment is a tentative schedule of activities that we will be doing-once again-participation in these activities is contingent on you going to the alliance website above and becoming a member and paying your membership dues. The last is a copy of the grant application if you want to attend conference in April. If you would like copies of these I need you to email me at musodspouses@gmail.com 

Baked Goods Sale:

On December 7th-9th we will be AT the dental school selling baked goods that the members make and books that have been donated for us to sell. The money from this baked goods sell will go into our treasurey for a night out social that we will be doing in January. ALL goodies need be delivered to Brittney Checketts in Cedarburg by Tuesday night the 6th OR to Kasey Bruch-Nenn in Milwaukee. They need to be individually wrapped or wrapped to sell. We want them to look festive. IF you do not have the time or resources to wrap your goodies they need to be delivered by Monday or at the LATEST Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. to Brittney. Also if you plan on making goodies please reply to me that you have paid your membership dues and what you plan on making! We would love volunteers to come and help man the table. They will be up from 10-2 Wed-Fri. ANY help that I can get manning the table would be MOST appreciated. 

Brushing is Fun:

In February we will be going to different schools and child care centers to read them a book about brushing their teeth. We will then donate the book to that classroom & I we are trying to get some funds from a few different organizations so that we can get the children goodie bags with toothbrushes and toothpaste in them to give at that time too. If you have a school or program you would like to read for and donate goodie bags I need to know ASAP so I can get a hold of enough books and goodie bags for your location. ALSO you MUST be a member of the alliance to participate in this as they are the ones who donated the books we will be giving away. 

Lastly, the attachment with the application for the grant for the conference. Each year the alliance has a conference. We are invited to attend, if you apply for the grant and are awarded it you they pay for your tickets to the events at the conference-which you MUST attend. They will also give you a $600 allowance for refunds on airfare/hotel/food/car rental. You can bunk with other members. There are a handful of members looking into going this year. I am for sure going (as long as I get the grant) so COME it will be fun and a GREAT way to find out ALL the benefits the alliance has to offer! 

Thank you all again! And PLEASE go and sign up for your membership! REMEMBER the $5 you spend will go right back to you for our January night out! (I would LOVE some idea's on what you would like to do for that night out! & Depending on how well the baked goods sell goes it could be really only be limited by what we are willing to put in!)

I TRULY believe this is an AMAZING program and I highly encourage you to put something forth and give it a try! You will get more back then you put in! And the more you do put in the more you will get back! 

Opening Social

Student Spouse Alliance

OPENING SOCIAL

November 16, 2011

7:00 p.m.

Marquette Dental School

There is going to be refreshments served and we will be doing a drawing for those in attendance to win a gift certificate for a dinner date with your spouse! 

We will be getting to know one another and explaining what the Student Spouse Alliance is all about! 

Hope to see you there!

Fall of 2011

I don't know about you guys, but I am SO excited for this year! I have decided to start this blog so that we can all keep up on the events and things available to the spouses of the wonderful Dental Students of Marquette!

My name is Brittney Checketts-my husband is a Wyatt and he is a first year. I am working with Suzi McAffe who's husband is Ryan, he is a fourth year. She has been the president of the Student Spouse Association and I am going to co-run it with her this year, so that I can learn the ropes for coming years. 

I hope that this will be a place where we can all find ideas for every area in our lives! If you have ideas or things you would like me to post please don't hesitate to shoot me an email or leave a comment! 

I plan on slowly adding the information that I am aware of as far as things like housing/activities and things like that go for students and their families. But as I am fairly new to the area my knowledge is limited and I would LOVE help! 

Please leave comments and keep in touch so that can network together! When leaving a comment for the first little bit if you wouldn't mind leaving your name and your spouses name and the year that you are so that we can start getting to know one another better! 

Suzi and I are currently trying to put together a Halloween Carnival for Oct 21st-I know there is no school that day, hopefully everyone will be able to attend & participate! Details will follow as we know them!