Message from the President

I hope this letter finds you all enjoying this beautiful spring. I would like to take a few minutes of your time to bring NH membership up to speed on a few topics. Let me start with updates on our NHATA executive council. For those unaware, we have had a change in our executive council that began at EATA in January. Peter Thurber, Colby Sawyer College, has moved into the role of past president and I, Tate Erickson, Keene Sports Medicine Center, have taken over the role of president. Neil Duval, St. Anselm's College, also a past president has taken over treasurer duties. And lastly, Jen Austin, Colby Sawyer College, is our secretary.

This past year has been very enthusiastic on a state and national level for NH ATC's. We had four members of NHATA attend the "4th Annual Hit the Hill Day" in Washington D.C. We had a chance to meet with a health counsel member of House Representative Paul Hodes. We also met with legislative team members of Senator's Judd Gregg and John Sununu. Much of the time spent with these three parties was used to educate how important athletic trainers have been on the NCAA level and secondary school level in the state of NH. The meetings in D.C. were extremely optimistic and we all walked away feeling very comfortable that our legislators now have a clear understanding that athletic trainers are solid healthcare providers and how strong our four ATEP programs in NH are. Progress continues to be made nationally as 10 House representatives have now "co-sponsored" this bill (HR 1846).

On April 6th, 2008, the NH Student Symposium took place. I had a chance to attend this meeting, where over 100 students gathered from the four NH ATEP Schools (University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State College, Colby Sawyer College and Keene State College) at Keene State College. The event was packed with student lectures, three scholarship winners (Rebekah Porter - UNH, Shannah Dalton - CSC and Taryn Nicoletta - CSC), a quiz bowl and the keynote address by Dr. Marcia Anderson (Program Director Bridgewater State). The historical EATA took place in January, 2008 where Rebekah Porter, UNH senior, took home another scholarship - EATA District I Karl Krein Scholarship.

This past year has also seen a few changes at two of our four ATEP schools. Dr. Sherry Bovinet has retired at KSC after serving over 30 years as program director. Dr. Wanda Swiger is now the program director at KSC. Colby Sawyer College saw a transition 07'-08' school year. At Colby Sawyer College John Culp completed his two year appointment as program director and Dr. Jennifer Austin has taken the reigns as program director.

As it is very difficult to provide all updates state wide, I hope the above notes have brought you some insight about our membership. It is also important to note that our state website has seen significant changes and with the help of T. J. Smith at Colby Sawyer College, you can find the most recent updates right at www.nhata.org.

I hope you enjoy a beautiful NH summer and hope to see some of you in St. Louis at the NATA.

Sincerely,
Tate Erickson