VASTA ENVISIONS THE FUTURE

When VASTA board members met in August of 1997 at Loyola University we revisited the notion of the retreat we had already conceived, discussed and voted into being a year before. Our tenth anniversary milestone, growing pains, and a yearning for a vision of the future and a plan to realize that vision motivated us. The retreat would be piggybacked onto our regular fall board meeting, we thought, but we hesitated, endlessly debating the prudence of devoting additional resources of time and money to an extended event. President BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange polled former board members for their views, and the forthright Bonnie Raphael galvanized us with her pithy response: "Isn't it interesting how dificult it is for women to give ourselves what we need and deserve?" Barbara Acker also reminded us that some support funds remained in the VASTA Special Conferences account. Agreeing that founding, past and current board members would assume the cost of ground transportation and meals, we voted late one night in justifiably giddy conclave to forge ahead.

Current board members and officers flew into Dallas on Wednesday, November 5th, and found their way to the Harvey Hotel in Plano. We met for dinner, kibitzed, hot-tubbed, and fell into bed to meet early the next morning to carry on with our regular fall meeting agenda. Early in the planning stages we had resolved to sandwich the two retreat days between the two days of board meetings, hoping to facilitate attendance and lower air fares for the majority of participants.

After meeting all day we congregated for dinner in the hotel dining room and discovered our facilitator, Candace Barnhardt, recently arrived from Ohio and ensconced in a booth. We asked her to join us at our large table, and we sized each other up: a confederation of raconteurs and pundits, an alert, focused, listening shepherd poised to lead. BettyAnn had recommended Candace, a Banc One employee and touted leader of a Milwaukee Repertory Company personnel retreat. Her title is "Director of Leadership Development," and she

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brought to VASTA fifteen years of experience in education and coaching, primarily in strategic planning, visioning and team development.

Candace had mailed each of us a form to fill out and return to her prior to the event. We answered provoking questions: "What are the strengths of this organization?"; "Why do you remain committed to this organization?"; "What is the single greatest accomplishment of this organization?"; "What is this organization's most significant drawback?"; and "What is the single most important thing that must be accomplished at this retreat?" Candace also invited us to let her know anything about VASTA which we felt she might need to know as facilitator of our retreat. This questionnaire got me and everyone else, I venture to say, thinking at a deeper level.

We arose on Friday morning, excited, anticipatory, happy to be together, a bit apprehensive, doubting, tired and fearful of a long day spent in chairs, to make our way to Collin County Community College where we met in beautifully appointed spaces free of charge, courtesy of president-elect Janet Rodgers who did all the preliminary legwork, her chair David Leong who gave her this lead, Brad Baker, Head of Theatre at CCCC and generous humanitarian, and VASTA Treasurer Kate Ufema who took over from Janet to finalize arrangements.

We gathered: founding, past and current board members and officers, the faithful and true. We chatted, partaking of the continental breakfast thoughtfully provided by Brad Baker and company. We eyed Candace who arranged flip charts and intriguing-looking craft supplies in the space.

BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange read a moving letter from Evangeline Machlin, unable to attend yet wishing us well, who in her letter implored our president's feedback on her telephone voice: "Tell me, BettyAnn, am I holding my own?" Candace called us gently but firmly to order and began by articulating her gleanings from our questionnaires.

In Candace's view we have reached an ex-

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