(This is the Welcome Message given during PASP's First National Convention: BEYOND BORDERS in July 2016.) 

When I personally texted, emailed and called people inviting them to our first national convention, they all had one thing to say, “FINALLY!”

When our term started in October 2014, our team had this big dream in mind. There were a lot of bumps along the way but our hearts and minds are set on making this possible. When we said, we wanted to celebrate our 25th anniversary by bringing together the 400+ SLPs all over the country through a convention; we knew that we had to work really hard. With limited manpower and funds, we knew we had to be creative and persistent. The Officers communicated online every day; we discussed projects past midnight and settled matters early in the day before we all went to work as Speech-Language Pathologists.

When the team said YES to a national convention, we notified our friends and colleagues and we are in awe of the support we received from them. Today, we are honored to have a roster of experts and speakers, who with their generous hearts, also said YES in supporting PASP’s efforts in making a mark as an organization. Our speakers and panelists come from other parts of the world, some of them are Balikbayans and all of them are successful professionals in varied institutions and organizations. At this point, let us give a warm round of applause to all our speakers and panelists, as an expression of our gratitude for their unwavering support and commitment.

The road to Beyond Borders was an exciting one. We had to build up the excitement by organizing seminars and events and we called it the “Beyond Series”. If you noticed, we had Beyond Service and the Profession, Beyond Diagnosis and Beyond Limits. We also organized seminars on the management of swallowing disorders, six PROMPT workshops, a free seminar on LSVT Big and LSVT Loud, and Dine to Donate. After organizing all these events in a span of one and a half years, the Officers would sometimes feel that our stress level was also “beyond” expected and that we had to work hard because we do not want to go “beyond” our budget. With God’s grace and relentless teamwork, we were able to do what needs to be done.

Friends and colleagues, we are finally under one roof, learning and collaborating, to better ourselves as professionals. At the core of all these efforts, our task is to do our best and give our best to our clients.

On behalf of the PASP’s Board of Trustees and Officers, it is with great joy and appreciation that I welcome all of you to Beyond Borders, our First National Convention!    

Weng Arao-Ynion

PASP President, 2014 - 2016