We will be needing a $20 down payment by Tuesday, February 21 to confirm you will going on the trip. You must pay the down payment if you want to go on the trip. This will make it easier for us to get a final price for the trip. There will be no refunds.

**This post will be updated periodically when we gather more information for the trip**

Spring Trip 2012 – Washington, D.C. is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Dress business casual. You are representing the printing program and GAA, so please look sharp.

If you are on the list, there is an excusal form located on the light table to the right of the GAA office.

Quad Midland Trip is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Thursday September 8, 2011

• • Leave Big Rapids, MI at 6am
  • Arrive in Lomira, WI around 12pm

• • • total miles from Big Rapids to Lomira is 371 miles and takes about 6 hours and 22 minutes
  • Alumni dinner at 6pm in Milwaukee, WI
    • approximately 54.2 miles from Lomira
  • After dinner we drive from Milwaukee to De Pere, WI to our hotel
    • approximately 115 miles

Friday September 9, 2011

• • 11 am Tour at Independent Printing
  • Alumni dinner at 6pm
  • After dinner – Drive to Gurnee Illinois to hotel

• • approximately 164 miles

Saturday September 10, 2011

• • Free day for everyone
    • Options

1. 1. 1. 1. Six flags
         1. Gurnee Mall/Gurnee
         2. Train to Chicago

Sunday September 11, 2011

• • 10 am Graph Expo

• • • leave at 4pm for Big Rapids MI
    • approximately 234 miles and about 4 hours and 2 minutes

I will be putting finishing touches on the itinerary so there is little confusion on where eat and stop.

- Six Flags
- if we get 20 people its $30.99
- $39.99 if ordered online

Fall Trip Itinerary is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Fun in the SUN!!! is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

 

Spring Trip

Last Deposit $75.00

Spring Trip Deposit is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

The next deposit for the trip is due on March 15, and will be $50. You can give the money to Nanette or pay through Paypal.

There will be two vans reserved to drive down to Wisconsin. Greg Wojo and Tom Walker will be the drivers. Everyone will be assigned to a van. Van assignments are as followed:

VAN 1 (TOM): Jake, Jason, Cyle, John, Jennie, Ethan
VAN 2 (GREG): Ariel, Mackenzie, Kameron, Nanette, Josh, Angela

We will be leaving on April 1st in the SWAN Parking Lot at a time to be determined (possibly at 3 or 4AM)

If you have any questions or comments, please email me at jasonsage@gaafsu.com

UPDATE: Spring Trip is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Wisconsin Trip Deposit is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Quad/Graphics Tours Set is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

If you have any additional questions, contact Jennie Blasingame.

Informational PDF: IT-Info

There will also be hard copies on the light table by the GAA office.

Chicago Trip Informational Sheet is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

GRAPHIC ARTS ASSOCIATION – FALL TRIP 2010

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1^st

• 6:45AM Meet in SWAN parking lot
• 7:00AM Depart for Chicago
• 9:00AM Breakfast in South Haven, MI
• 11:30AM Tour Rider Dickerson in Bellwood, IL
• 1:00PM LUNCH!
• 1:30PM Check-in to hotel
• 5:45PM Meet in lobby for dinner
• 6:00PM Leave for dinner at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria Tinley Park, IL

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2^nd

• Free day, stay with your buddy
• Be sure to have cell numbers if you get lost

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3^rd

• 9:00AM Meet in lobby
• 9:15AM Leave for Graph Expo at McCormick Place
• 3:00PM Meet at determined spot in McCormick
• 3:15PM Leave Chicago

Printable Copy: Trip Itinerary

Chicago Trip FINAL ITINERARY is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Final Trip Payments is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

We will be staying at the convention center for approximately 4 hours. After seeing the show we will be traveling home. As of right now the cost is $130 but could drop in the coming weeks. I am asking for a $20 commitment, by Sept 14th, at the general meeting. This price does not include a ticket to get into Graph Expo. You may register for a free ticket here, if you do not register you will be responsible for paying for your ticket upon arrival. If you have any question feel free to email me at jennieblasingame@gmail.com.

Electronic deposit can be provided through the PayPal button below.

Student’s Full Name

GAA Fall Trip is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

February 17th, 2010

We recently received information after the General Meeting today that the Vertis Communications Tour has been cancelled due to their managers being ill and previous commitments. We are very sorry for the inconvenience, we will attempt to reschedule for the 24th or 31st of March 2010.

-Travel Committee

Vertis Tour Cancelled is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Wisconsin Spring Trip Deposit Due! is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Spring Trip Deposit is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Papa’s Pumpkin Patch Adventure is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

“Kodak’s booth was very fun, I spent a ton of time playing with the interactive displays.” – Tom Walker

“You could tell that the economy had an affect on the turn out of companies at the show, it was not as big as my professors had described, [but] participating in the myPrint ’09 was a great experience; I was able to become more familiar with what will eventually turn into my career!” – Tina Yahr

“The Print 09 Expo was the best one so far! There were a few new companies there that really showed excellent demonstrations of their products. I’m looking forward to next year’s expo!” – Melissa DiVietri

Photos from our trip:

[flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157622376271658"]

Print ’09 is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Hello Everyone!

I am still in Calgary and competition hasn’t started yet. Today we went to visit two elementary schools to introduce ourselves and what we do. At one of the schools we were each assigned four little kids to be our “tour guides.” We went to different classrooms and each student took turns to introduce me. It was very nice. I had explained to them what printing was and when the other students had questions about what printing is my tour guides would proudly explain.

We have the opening ceremony tonight. Tomorrow is my first day of competition and I am going to be doing an exercise on the SHOTS simulator. I am also doing some cutting! The SHOTS simulator exercise is only worth 2 points and they are judging us on just our ability to solve the problem. The cutting is only worth half of a point because it isn’t an every day task that a press operator has to do cutting. For cutting, all I have to do is tell them what first cut I would make.

The following day I have some ink mixing to do, a digital print job, and a SHOTS simulator exercise. The ink mixing will be done in Grams, not Pounds. The digital job is worth only half a point and all we have to do is make sure we get there on time to get the half of a point.

On the third day, I have to do my final SHOTS exercise in the morning and then in the afternoon I will have my press run. I named the press “Jerry” after my trainer at Gilson Graphics. The SHOTS exercise is going to be hard, according to the judges. I hope I can figure out the problems quickly. I hope the printer gods are with me during my press run. There are a lot of talented press operators at the competition. Some have had years of experience running a Heidelberg SM-52. I hope the press runs like it has been running at Gilson.

The fourth and final day is the day that I measure my spot color with a spectrophotometer. After the competition we have our closing ceremony and that is when they announce the winners. I hope I can go on stage and represent all of the printers at Ferris State University!

-Amela Mujkic

P.S. Pictured above is Royce Richards from New Zealand. You can see me in the picture there behind him. Royce is one of the few competitors in Offset Printing that will talk to me. The rest pretend they don’t speak english.

One School, One Country is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Update: I MADE IT TO CALGARY! I have only been in Calgary for about 3 hours now and I have already met some people from other countries. It has been hard hunting down the printers from other countries… Hopefully I will meet them at dinner tonight.

When I got off of the bus in front of the competitors village, I saw a crowd of people sitting outside smoking cigarettes. I decided to go and say hi. It turns out that they are from the Netherlands (or Holland, whichever one you want to call it). When I told them I was competing in “Offset Printing” they immediately told me that I probably won’t win because their competitor is a 2 time Netherlands champion in printing and is also #1 in Europe. They also proceeded to tell me that he has been training for 3 months with Heidelberg.

I am NOT discouraged. I think I have a good chance of winning, just like the guy from the Netherlands does. I give him a lot of respect for getting to WorldSkills and I’m sure the competition won’t be easy. My secret weapon is time. We are allotted 4 hours to do the competition and I can do it in 2 and a half if I am focused. You get bonus points for finishing early. I also don’t know if he has had any training on the SHOTS simulator. Did anyone notice the computer from the pressroom missing?

I am going to go to dinner soon. All of the competitors eat dinner in the same place so I am hoping to meet all of the printers. I want to make lots of friends while I am here. Maybe exchange ideas on how printing is done in Europe. Should I try and talk to them about going to Ferris State University?

As for tomorrow, we are going to Banff! It is this super awesome place in the Canadian Rockies. It is a national park. They have hot springs and spas that I want to dip into. Lots of beautiful scenery. I forgot to bring my camera so you all will have to wait for pictures until James gets here. He is going to be here tomorrow!

I hope everyones first week of classes goes well. Keep me posted on GAA activities and such.

Journey to WorldSkills 2009 – CALGARY!!! is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

I am a little nervous about running 100# text through the feeder since that is the ONLY kind of paper I haven’t run on the Heidelberg SM-52. I guess I’ll just put all of the settings in the middle and see what happens. I really wish I could have brought my own ink. Grand Rapids Printing Inks was going to send me off with 5 lbs cans of CMYK inks but we weren’t sure how we were going to get it across the border and through airport security. We also weren’t sure if I was allowed to bring my own ink; it might give me a competitive advantage. I think it would be cool if the students in the paper and ink class come down to GRPI’s facility to mix some ink. Or maybe do a GAA tour/ink mixing session? What are your thoughts on this idea?

I think I blabbed enough about the competition for today. Off to Washington DC!

I am super excited that this airport has FREE WiFi

Keep checking the website for updates on my trip to WorldSkills 2009!

-Amela Mujkic

Journey to WorldSkills 2009 – Washington DC is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Join us for the largest print expo in the Western Hemisphere!

PRINT ’09 is MyPrint

PRINT 09 became the graphic communications industry’s top international trade exhibition by producing exhibitor leads, sales and profits. It has remained number one by strategically driving in new directions. Digital printing. Creative services. Mailing and fulfillment. Wide format output. In these and other areas, PRINT 09 has understood the business model, identified the opportunities for exhibitors and customers alike, and delivered creative new solutions.

Always a powerhouse “selling” show, PRINT 09 today is also so much more. It’s a community, a place where productive partnerships are formed. Attendees won’t be at PRINT 09 just to buy, and you won’t be there just to sell. But everyone WILL be there working together to build something new – forging a creative new path into the future of the graphic communications industry.

For more information, please visit the Official Print ’09 Web Site.

The expense budget is listed below and includes the essentials to get to the expo. Please also bring money for food and any additional activities.

You will have to buy a ticket at the door if you want to attend the Expo (tickets will be approximately $55). You can pay for the rest of the trip online (below), or contact any of the E-board and pay by check. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

For orders placed online, there will be a $3.00 non-refundable processing fee.