In 1992, conference attendees wrote a song (to the tune of “The Cassion Song”) about that year’s experience. Each year a new verse commemorates the year’s conference with humor, and it (along with selected previous verses) is performed at the closing banquet.

2023

To the hills of Canaan/we will bring our glad refrain/with our colleagues we all hold so dear / Higher Ed may be screwed/ if you listen to the news/ but we change lives, so we’ll show no fear/ Punctuation rules/ you didn’t learn in school/ a period will make the kids all cry/ So we’ll shed a tear/ for Phil not being here/ and we’ll see you at next year’s ACRAO.

2022

The Capital City’s sweet/ Place for ACRAO folks to meet/ for the conference we all love so dear/ faces new, faces old/ Many stories here were told/ Of our awesome higher ed careers/ the escape room teams were smarter than they seem/ they conquered the challenges just fine! Now we head back home/ excited as we go/ and we’ll see you all sometime next fall

2021

Philosophy by Miley/ Talk to admin make your plea/ As W-VACRAO comes back face to face/ GQ prez led the way/ He’ll be back next year - hooray!/ Speaker gifts better keep up the pace/ The Asylum tour we’ve never seen before/ We’re thankful they didn’t lock us up/ 50 tips for success/ Will keep us at our best/ As we head back to campus again.

2020

Thanks to COVID we find/ we’re in the office at the time / we would usually meet up with our friends / At our desks, on the screen/ yet another Zoom meeting / while we long for this crisis to end / But our leaders fine / kept everything in line / West Virginia ACRAO is here to stay / In every, way, shape, form, and fashion / Helping students is our passion / So here’s to next year ‘cause this year just sucks!

2019

Headed off to Shepherdstown / where a lot of war went down / to meet with the Wah-VAC-RO crew

Drank some brew / toured a field / a haunted tour gave us a thrill / with company that’s Quality

So it’s hi-hi-ho / ‘round the table we did go / to learn and to grow and to share

Now it’s time to ghost this town / pack your bags see you around / but don’t forget your underwear

2018

To Pipestem we did go/For this year’s Wah-VAC-RO/Where the flora and fauna were fine

Get involved, do your best/Take a break and get some rest/With desk yoga to clear out your mind

So it’s ho-ho-hi/The power is in “I”/Ideas, inspiration we did share

So we’ll wrap this up/As we all can raise our cup/To a toast to our work and our friends

2017

Over hill, over dale/We have hit the ACRAO trail/And to Glade Springs we traveled to learn

Improve your mood, reduce your stress/Lay on the floor and take a breath/And just hope that the coach puts you in

Since Millennials are gone, it’s Generation Z/Which slang word will it now be?

Salty, thirsty, preach or lit/ACRAO vets don’t know their shit/So the rookies must now lead the show

1992

Over hill, over dale/We have hit the ACRAO trail/As the new years come rolling along

ACT, diversity/And a little frivolity/Make us happy, content and strong

So we work all day, then we play all night/Recruitment, retention is our game

So it’s hi, hi, ho/As on the road we go/And we pack up and move with our show