My First HECA Conference – But Not My Last

Howdy – from the other side of my recent visit to Dallas – home of taquerias, Texas-style barbecue, and apparently, donut shops! I had no idea donut shops were local Dallas-specific attractions, but apparently yes, as I passed dozens of them while riding to-and-fro through the city. I was visiting for a specific purpose: To attend my first Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) conference.

What is the HECA, you ask?

HECA is a professional organization for consultants specializing in college admission planning, working with students and families to ease, manage, and provide guidance across the application and decision-making process. While perusing through social media, I came across an announcement for the annual conference, and as they say, the rest was history.

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I first walked into the conference site. I was a bit nervous. I am a masterful introvert – the stereotypical shy variety of introvert. Conferencing can be challenging, especially going at it alone. However, there was a bigger reason why I was attending, so my nerves took a backseat. As it turns out, I was all keyed up for no good reason. I left feeling incredibly fortunate that I had taken this solo trip to Dallas. I was able to fill in some knowledge gaps, become introduced to new college planning resources, and met amazing people along the way. Boy, were my expectations fulfilled and then some!

Mission Accomplished

I flew in a few days early for the Professional Development Institute, a pre-conference training designed with new consultants in mind.  Our instructors were well-experienced and well-accomplished veterans in the field and my “classmates” were literally from all over the world from varied backgrounds and experiences. I knew I was amongst my tribe, my people, because everyone was so passionate about serving students well in transitioning to college, identifying career interests, and just developing into awesome, productive adults. I was in the zone, engaged and excited, and the hours flew by in the blink of an eye.

Days 3 and 4 encompassed the annual HECA Conference. Long days full of presentations, but very well worth it. It was very interesting to view some of the session topics from the lens of already working inside of higher education. Some of the same issues that high school students are exploring, many college students are grappling with as well, like figuring out what you want to be when you grow up, how to improve upon not-so-great study habits, or balance mental health and self-care.

Standouts and Take-Aways

Among the standouts: I was introduced to study skills assessment tool that I plan on using with students in the future. What I enjoyed about it was the ability to tap into underlying factors that shape academic performance, such as anxiety, motivation, time management, or weak study habits. Being able to assess these insights into how students naturally approach learning and diagnose potential blindspots are undoubtedly helpful in college preparation and beyond.

I also got a bit of a glimpse ahead into the expansion of the Common App system for transfer students. This session especially piqued my interest because I can take this knowledge back to benefit the community college students that I teach on the daily.

This was not a session, per se, but I visited a booth for a neat technology-based career assessment tool. After the demo, I was uber excited to get home, activate my free trial, and test it out on myself. After a series of challenging “brain games,” the tool pinpointed my natural strengths (aptitudes), explained how I best learn, and matched me with hundreds of career options to explore. I’m a bonafide psychology geek, so everything about personality and aptitude testing is thrilling to me. Thankfully, my results affirmed that I was indeed on the right career path.

Have you ever heard of a Geothermal Production Manager? Yeah, me neither. Apparently,  this is a career in which I have high aptitude, but zero knowledge of prior to reading my results. This is not too much of a loss since my interests in “social” careers didn’t line up well for this type of work. However, imagine yourself as a high school student in early career preparation mode. Gaining knowledge of new “fitting” career paths is valuable; and so the discovery that an intended career path isn’t quite the best fit. While this was a self-experiment, I am already plotting on recruiting a few students to try this tool out with.

All in all, the HECA conference was a positive, fun-filled experience. I strongly recommend attending if you’re an independent educational consultant like myself, especially if you’re relatively new to the field. There is so much to learn! And I am already setting aside funds for next year’s conference. Most of all, I am especially looking forward to how the tips, tools, and tidbits transform my work with students.