“Seas the day.”
(Storyteller Travel)
Summertime is conference season for everyone working in Higher Education Career Services. We have multiple organizations that provide fantastic opportunities to network with colleagues.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Southern Association of Colleges and Employers (SoACE) and Florida Association of Colleges and Employers (Florida ACE) are three of the organizations I have membership or participate in professional development. My current role aligns more with NACE these days, but I stay up to date with SoACE and Florida ACE. I have a lot of my tree branches who are extremely active with the regional and state associations. I am proud to say one of my tree branches is the current President of SoACE. I have others coming up through the ranks so happy to watch them grow daily.
The Florida ACE annual conference was held in Jupiter, Florida this year and several of my friends and tree branches attended. I was not an official attendee for this conference since I was just returning from the NACE conference in Portland. I received several texts and emails from my folks in attendance that they wanted me to come down for the conference to say hello.
Decided to drive down to Jupiter for the last day of the conference which was a Friday. My current school is closed on Fridays during the summer so got up with the intent to catch the last portions of the conference and get a chance to catch up with my folks. Jupiter is about a 50-minute drive south from Fort Pierce so made my way down.
Arrived at the conference location and located the Florida ACE group on the second floor. They were wrapping up the conference with awards and door prizes, so I hung back to avoid disrupting the conference, but my friends spotted me towards the back of the room. Got a few smiles and waves but this did not distract from the conference.
I was able to see and catch up with friends once the conference ended. It was great catching up with people I have not seen in a while. Some of this is because of COVID and some was because I moved down to Fort Pierce. Either way, this was a fantastic opportunity to see some great people and reconnect! 😊
The original Square Grouper is in Jupiter, and I had never visited this location before. I am a regular at the Fort Pierce Square Grouper and wanted to check out the OG location for myself. FYI, one of my friends refers to the Jupiter location as the OG (Original Gangster) location so decided to join in on the fun.
Google maps got me to the Square Grouper in about 10 minutes from the conference hotel which was down the street.
Made my way into the OG location to see how/if it was different from the Fort Pierce location.
The bar setups were very similar, and the food menu was the exact same—not surprising. The difference I saw was what was beyond/behind Square Grouper. The Fort Pierce location sits on the Fort Pierce inlet and is great for watching boats on the water. The Jupiter location has a dock directly behind it with boats sitting. Not a horrible look but the views are almost night and day for me. Love the freedom and great pictures I get at the Fort Pierce location.
I’m sure the Jupiter location has a group of regulars who love their views, but I would not trade the Fort Pierce view, vibe and feel for anything. Plus, the Fort Pierce Square Grouper is 15 minutes from where I live as opposed to having to drive 50 minutes to Jupiter. FYI—the Jupiter location seems to get better live music options since it is closer to south Florida and the Miami music scene.
https://squaregrouper.net/events/month/?venue=jupiter-inlet
Happy I made the stop in Jupiter to see what the OG Square Grouper has to offer. Need to explore more in the Jupiter area since the beach is so nice down there.
Irie!
“Life takes you down many paths, but my favorite ones lead to the beach”.(Good Housekeeping)
Walk Into the Future 