STARS was filled with individuals from campuses everywhere (including Alaska, Canada, and everywhere around the continuous United States) who loved what they were doing within University Housing programs. There was a mix of CAs and Hall Leaders and they are amazing. I've met some individuals who I will definitely keep in contact with and who I look up to. As for the material, though I know that each University is different, it was amazing to see the varying departments within University Housing across the nation. I want to go into Student Affairs, and this just solidified this. I am especially grateful that I was able to attend, and look forward to the upcoming year when I get to put everything in practice.
As for ACUHO-I, I am not sure what I expected. The conference started off with a comedy routine, and that set the entire mood for the event. I was able to volunteer throughout the event as well as attend several programs. Two of these programs stuck with me the most. These were sessions about being an Introvert and the Enneagram personality test. The Introvert session was presented by one of the STARS faculty, and was incredibly relatable. For the personality test, I ended up being a type 5, one of the rare ones. There is plenty more that I could go on about these sessions, but they were wonderful.
And D.C. was beautiful, but that's a later topic.