Riverside, Calif., March, 2000--If personnel in Angwin Hall or La Sierra Towers need a little help with bed checks this week, some reinforcements are coming.

Nearly 100 people are converging on the La Sierra University this week for the 23rd annual meetings of the Adventist Student Personnel Association convention, to be held from Wednesday, March 15, to Saturday, March 18.

The organization, also known by its acronym ASPA, is the professional organization for Seventh-day Adventist student life personnel. The group includes residence hall deans, student life vice presidents, student activities coordinators, security, counselors, health services and food service personnel from academies and colleges across North America and Jamaica.

Each year ASPA holds its annual meetings at a different academy or college campus and this year La Sierra got the nod (the university last hosted the event in 1995).

Thus far few are complaining about abundant California sunshine and swaying palm trees, said Sue Curtis, La Sierra dean of students and the current president of the Adventist Student Personnel Association .

"People - especially those from more northern climes - really enjoy the mild weather and some even stay a few days to enjoy the surrounding attractions," she said.

The La Sierra administrator was elected for a three-year term as ASPA president during the group's 1998 meetings held at the Kettering College of Medical Arts just outside Dayton, Ohio.

The theme for this year's ASAP convention is "Caring and Encouraging." The title is drawn from a recent book titled "Encouraging the Heart" by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.

Posner, dean of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif., will give the conference's keynote address on Thursday, March 16, 9:45 a.m. in Angwin Hall. An opening banquet in the dining commons on Wednesday night will feature an address by Joan Coggin, a noted Adventist cardiologist from Loma Linda University.

Among the other events during the four-day convention will be presentations by Stuart Tyner, young adult pastor of the La Sierra University Church, Ken Hanson, a Corona-based attorney, and Joyce Hanscom Lorntz, director of the counseling center at Pacific Union College, Angwin, Calif. ASAP convention attendees will end their La Sierra experience with a Saturday night awards banquet in the Alumni Center.

Student Life personnel are asking that university employees extend a hand of friendship and assistance to the campus visitors - the typical undiluted strand of West Coast hospitality for which the region could be famous.

"Whatever we can do to show our guests how happy we are to host them would be great," said Jennifer Tyner, Student Life vice president. "Giving directions, extending a welcome or just giving a smile - whatever it takes."

Also, students on the hill: You're outnumbered, so don't miss bed check.

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