
OCDA January 2025 Newsletter

A Message from OCDA President, Richard Fajardo
Dear Members,
Did you know that "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille was the Number 1 single in Billboard Magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1975? Why am I bringing this up?
As you may have heard, we are celebrating OCDA's 50th Anniversary this year because we were founded in, you guessed it, 1975! So much has happened in the Career Development arena over the past 50 years. We hope to have you join us for the upcoming conference June 5th-6th at Ashland University, as well as for other workshops and events as we build on what we have done in the past and what we currently do to put together an exciting future for ourselves and the people we serve.
Another reason I bring up music is that music can be a great way to relax and reflect. I don't know about you, but I have enjoyed countless hours putting together different playlists in my lifetime--sometimes to reflect on past or current times in my life (sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes other emotions), other times with themes like 'sports music', and even the occasional collection of my latest downloads. In fact, one of my favorite moments connecting my career to music was listening to my favorite 'latest downloads' playlist from my time in grad school at Bowling Green State University during my drive to a final job interview at The Ohio State University. It was during my Graduate Assistantship with the Graduate and Executive Programs in Business Office at BGSU when I found my passion for working professionally in higher education. In turn, after that interview day, I received the offer for my current job with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at OSU.
A fun project I am now working on in my downtime is putting together a playlist of 1 song from each of the years I have been alive. I will admit, I was not around yet when "Love Will Keep Us Together" was at the top of the charts, nor was I alive when ABBA released "Dancing Queen" in 1976, itself one of the top songs of the 1977 charts (my wife, who also was not around at that time, made sure to include the Mamma Mia! movie cover of the song on our wedding playlist). I look forward to completing this new playlist! I just counted and have 22 songs filled in as of this writing. I will say that one of my favorite songs, "No One" by Alicia Keys, made the list on that old BG playlist, my wedding playlist, and my new '1 song per year' playlist.
Do you ever use music to help you relax and reflect? Are there any songs that define moments or eras of your life? Is there an album that instantly takes you back in time to your younger self? Whatever the song, genre, etc. is, I hope you rock on, feel the rhythm, enjoy the flow of the moment, and although this song did not make the cut on my '1 song per year' playlist, in the words of Lee Ann Womack: "I hope you dance!"
Best regards,
Richard Fajardo
2024-2025 OCDA President & Archives Co-Chair


Do you have photos from past OCDA meetings, events, or conferences? We want to see them as part of our 50th Anniversary Celebration this year! Please share any OCDA photos with us at ohiocda@gmail.com.
Conference Updates

SAVE THE DATE!
2025 OCDA Conference
June 5-6, 2025
Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio
We are thrilled to extend an invitation to the OCDA 2025 Conference, Seasons of Change in Career Development: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and Where We’re Going. To learn more about the 2025 OCDA Conference, you can follow THIS LINK. You won't want to miss this exciting conference and celebration!


Call for Proposals
DEADLINE: Friday, January 31st 2025
Want to Share Your Expertise? Submit a proposal for the OCDA 2025 Conference! This year’s conference theme is Seasons of Change in Career Development: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and Where We’re Going, and the theme consists of 3 pillars that will be used as guidance for our selection of presentations. To learn more about OCDA’s conference theme and guiding pillars as well as submit a proposal, you can follow THIS LINK. The deadline to submit your proposal is THIS FRIDAY, January 31, 2025 at 11:59pm EST.

Sponsor the 2025 OCDA Conference!
Does your organization want to support career development in the state of Ohio? Consider sponsoring the 2025 OCDA Conference! This conference serves as a pivotal gathering for professionals in the career development field, bringing together leaders, practitioners, coaches, and educators from across the state.
Why sponsor the OCDA Conference?
Exposure
Networking
Brand Recognition
Variety of Sponsorship Packages available
To learn more about sponsorship packages, please visit ocdaonline.org/sponsorships

Questions about the conference?
Email President-Elect/Conference Planning Chair, Kaleigh Mahon at kmahon3@kent.edu.

Government Relations Updates
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The OCDA Government Relations Committee (GRC) is excited to share a recap of our Second Annual Government Education and Engagement Day that took place in November 2024! This exciting event provided the opportunity for OCDA members to engage in advocacy efforts at the Ohio Statehouse! To read more about this exciting event, follow THIS LINK.
Additionally, the OCDA GRC is proud to share the launch of our Advocacy webpage on the OCDA website! This new page will be for news/information about the Government Relations Committee. You can learn about the GRC as a whole, how OCDA engages in advocacy, and it will also be the location of our GRC news known as the Pulse On Ohio! Check out the Advocacy page HERE.

Want to get more involved with OCDA? Join the Awards Committee!
Join the Awards Committee!
If you're looking for ways to get involved in OCDA, consider joining the Awards Committee to help coordinate the awards presented at our Annual Conference. For further information, contact Anna-Kaye Rowe, Awards Chair at rowea@ohio.edu. We have two openings available.
Nominations Coming Soon!
Be on the lookout for the official call for award nominations next week in your inbox and on our social media. We're super excited about this year's Conference-themed award and can't wait to share all the details and review your nominations. Please be thinking of colleagues you may want to recognize for their work in the career development field.

Featured Career Resource: CareerOneStop Interest Profiler

Our Newsletter Committee member, Sarah Grace McCollough, shares a tool she has used with students to explore career options:
https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/interest-assessment.aspx
As a part of CareerOneStop, a FREE career resource, you can participate in an Interest Profiler. Once completing this short 30-question assessment based on your preferences for various work tasks, you can receive results based on your interests & skills. The results help to identify how you relate to 6 work personalities: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, & Conventional. It then connects you with job profiles from the Career One Stop, which is sponsored by the US Department of Labor (these are updated with salaries, job profiles, and more!).
As a whole, CareerOneStop is a great tool for career explorers and students who are trying to determine career & major options!
If you have any ideas for membership email content, please email Chelsea Francis at
cfranci1@cscc.edu.