Our very own Katy Murphy kicked off the start of the annual NACAC Conference, welcoming all attendees with a slightly diminished voice. Despite the laryngitis, Katy powered through and made us all proud to be associated with her in the Western affiliate. Well done, Katy. Thank you for all you have done as a leader and mentor in the Western affiliate and for your service to our national organization!
Geoffrey Canada then opened the NACAC Conference in Indianapolis this year with an inspiring keynote address. Geoff has been a leader within our country, fighting for the right to an education, not the privilege. Creating Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., Geoffrey has been a radical, asking our country to invest in students early to give them an education and to prevent the need for investment later for incarceration. The challenge for all of us as educators now becomes to always ‘see the glass half full’ and to give our students hope. No matter where they come from, all of our students deserve that chance to hope and to pursue higher education. This is why we are here and we do what we do. As educators, we need to create opportunities for students to have the choice to pursue education at a higher level.
After the first session, the membership met for our bi-annual meeting. It was a time to connect with colleagues and disseminate information about SuperACAC (a conference not only for WACAC members, but a joining of the Western ACAC, Rocky Mountain ACAC, and the Pacific Northwest ACAC) in Reno this May 18-20 and the 2015 NACAC San Diego conference coming to our region next October 1-3. Both opportunities for you to volunteer! We look forward to seeing your session proposals for both of these conferences as well. Please see the meeting minutes that will be disseminated via email for the full re-cap.
We will look forward to reconvening as a membership in Reno! See you then!
By Lauren Popkowski