The conference also featured several guest speakers with expertise in the education field.  About 40 people attended the July 25 pre-conference training on project-based learning.  This full-day training, led by Tristan de Frondeville of PBL Associates, introduced participants to best practices in project design, assessment, and management.  During the plenary sessions, participants heard from Dr. Vincent Tinto, author and leading researcher on student success, and Dr. Cile Chavez, a former superintendent and college dean who now provides consulting on leadership and human development issues.  Dr. Tinto spoke about the recommended structures and conditions for improving persistence of at-risk students, and Dr. Chavez provided a framework for unlocking one's potential and creating a culture of excellence at the individual, team, and organizational levels.   

Networking and community-building are key objectives of the Peer Learning Conference.  Through a series of "job-alike" sessions, participants in similar roles had a chance to share their experiences, ideas, and resources.  The July 26 evening reception, co-hosted by local GtC partners Front Range Community College (FRCC) and Pueblo Community College (PCC-CO), provided another valuable opportunity for participants to network with peers and enjoy some lighthearted fun. The event was held outdoors on the Keystone Lodge terrace and featured country/western line dancing and a prize raffle.   

The 2010 Peer Learning Conference was bigger and better than ever, and achieved its overarching goals of fostering community, sharing learning and best practices, solidifying commitments, and unifying under a common vision.  Special thanks to FRCC and PCC-CO for their gracious hosting, assistance in planning, and financial support!

"I had a wonderful and inspiring time.  I can't wait to go back and implement these new ideas in my class."

"I can now attest to the value of having as many people on your team as possible attend the PLC.  Over the past 3 days we were all inspired by plenary sessions, workshops, Sketches of Excellence, and conversations with colleagues from various parts of the country.  We heard ideas and got resources/tools that made us rethink instruction, social support structures, learning communities, and Gateway culture."

"I learned a lot about myself and others...I made friends with other students I didn't think I would." 

"This is my first GtC conference.  I have been to countless other professional education conferences and this has been the most helpful and inspiring.  You all have done an exemplary job of replenishing our professional souls that we might go back and give our all this academic year."

Thanks to all who participated and helped make the conference successful, and special thanks to the Walmart Foundation for their generous sponsorship!

Sketches of Excellence
 

In the spirit of this year's conference theme, faculty, staff, and students from across the network submitted essays conveying their ideas about excellence.  These inspiring "Sketches of Excellence," which focused on themes like struggle, risk taking, teamwork, persistence, and transformation, were interwoven throughout the conference and served as a call to go beyond the expected and be extraordinary.  Below are excerpts from a few of the essays:

"Now I am a teacher (among other things) and find myself facing waves of new faces every semester, the faces of young people just beginning to launch their own adult lives.  What do I tell them?  I tell them to be passionate.  I tell them not to waste one moment.  I don't know if my words mean anything - probably not.  But I hope that my own passion - for them, for literature and poetry, for music, science, and psychology - might be a model for them as my father's passion was a model for me."

"We do not deny our weaknesses.  In fact, we embrace them, usually with acceptance and laughter and then we create a plan to be better.  We continually challenge each other to find better ways of serving students and are willing to modify processes to make them more comprehensive and effective." 

- Barbara Tatum, Resource Specialist, Lake Washington Technical College 

"My mom met her goal, she wanted to be able to support us and live a decent life.  Her persistence and determination to do this is why I believe she is magnificent.  Persistence is definitely a key to being great; without it, no one would get anywhere in life." 

"There are struggles we hope to free our students from: the struggle to feed their children, the struggle to stay safe from violence - in their homes or on the streets. But there is another struggle, an intellectual wrestling that can invigorate, pushing the limits further and further out until they finally cease to exist at all.  This is the joy of struggle...."  

GtC National Network Launches Project DEgree

Engage. Support. Accelerate. Graduate. 

In July, Lois Orner joined the National Network team as a Manager of Training and Site Support.  She brings expertise in the solution focused perspective and will primarily be supporting Gateway partners.  Lois comes to the National Network with a wealth of experience including 19 years as a medical social worker and over 8 years working with programs that serve children and families through the local K - 12 school system.  Most recently, she was the Program Director for the I Have a Dream Foundation of Oregon.

Lois received her Master's of Social Work from the University of Wisconsin and her Bachelor's of Social Work from Cornell University.  She has been a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Oregon since 1987.