By Susan Adkins
More than 2,500 elected leaders and interested members of Utah PTA organizations will gather at BYU to “Catch the Vision” as part of the 2006 Utah PTA Leadership Convention.
The two-day conference begins Friday (May 19, 2006) and the attendees will represent the 136,000 members of 20 regions from all over Utah. The convention provides training and networking for many Utah PTA leaders and members. According to Perspectives magazine, BYU is selected to host the conference because it is centrally located to most of the PTA population.
“Our goals are to train, motivate and provide networking opportunities for our Utah PTA leaders and members in support of Utah PTA”s mission to help every child reach their potential,” said Kathy Allred, the Utah PTA vice president for public relations, in an e-mail interview.
At the conference there will be general sessions each day at 9 a.m.
Sessions include former U.S. Senator Jake Garn, Utah PTA honorary 2006 membership chair to address attendees Friday. Also, Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. will speak Saturday morning. His wife, first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman will also be speaking.
Students have two workshops to attend after the general sessions on Saturday, titled “Power in You” and “Youth Crime Watch and Youth Peer Count.” There will also be a service project for the Happy Factory.
There will also be workshops for the PTA leaders to attend. There are six sessions of workshops, four on Friday and two on Saturday. Workshops have specific focuses for teachers, superintendents, principals and other positions within the PTA. Each workshop lasts for one hour.
There will be commercial exhibitors at the convention. The exhibits are to help PTA members plan activities and events, according to Perspectives magazine. There will also be a convention boutique where Utah PTA and national PTA merchandise can be purchased.
Voice Male will perform at the Friday night awards banquet and concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Voice Male is a six-man a cappella ensemble. They began in the fall of 1994 with nine members. In 1996, they changed to a six-member group. They have recorded eight studio albums, according to their website voicemalemusic.com.
At the Saturday afternoon finale, there will be a performance from Providence, a four-member female singing group. Their music is soulful and energetic and according to Providence magazine, the women have 14 children between them.
