It seems like only a few years ago that I presented at my first national conference with my mentor, Dr. Pamela Rupert. In actuality, it was 24 years ago. I have come full circle now, working with new colleagues, helping them present at similar conferences a quarter of a century later. Last week, Grant, Carmela, Patrick, and I presented a paper at the National Symposium on Student Retention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Grant and I are old hats at this, having worked together on and off for more than ten years. But this was the first big conference presentation for Patrick and Carmela. Our paper outlined the strategies we have used to raise our developmental education and adult education success rates. We painted a picture of the culture we started in, the related challenges, and the subsequent policies and strategies we have developed. We worked on the presentation for several weeks with help from Christian back in Chicago. The night before our presentation, we decided to overhaul it, and we spent a late night in my hotel room reworking things and eating chocolate ganache cake. We had a minor setback as the German chocolate cake wasn't on the menu, then was, then wasn't again, but we compensated. Grant led off, Patrick and I filled in the middle, then Carmela came on and finished things up with good examples from the adult ed side of the house. We had 21 participants who were fully engaged. They asked several good questions, and a few expressed interest in following up with us in the future.
It was a great week preparing for the presentation, going to other sessions, and exploring Salt Lake City together. It is good to get away with colleagues to recharge a bit. Most importantly, doing these types of presentations give us the luxury to step back and look more broadly at our work and to discuss vision and philosophy. I love being able to work with my colleagues in these kinds of settings. And I feel a little sad for my friends and acquaintances whose lives are filled with platitudes like "don't work too hard" and "your life should include balance." My work is rewarding, I share it with great people, and we serve deserving students, families, and community. What could possibly be a balancing weight to that?
