Governor's Conference

Last Thursday and Friday I attended the 2009 Governor's Conference on Serivce and Volunterism. And, thanks to my lovely status as a VISTA, I was able to experience this wonderful conference for FREE!! I sat in on some truly great sessions and learned a lot about service-learning that I didn't know before. I just want to highlight two sessions that really made this conference for me.

First, I went to a session moderated by Doug Grant of Franklin College. It was all about Franklin's service-learning trip to Uganda. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the discussion, but it ended up being very interesting. Franklin modeled their J-term service trip after the trip that some Butler students planned during the summer of 2007. (The trip I went on.) I really enjoyed hearing about another group's experiences and seeing pictures of the school being built. It makes me want to drop everything and go back right now.

The other session that I really liked was moderated by Ange Cooksey from Indiana University East in Richmond, IN. It was called "The History of Service-Learning". I honestly thought I was going to be bored out of my mind. Thankfully it ended up being the complete opposite. Cooksey is a very dynamic and passionate person. Not only did I get a crash course in the history of service-learning, I found out why you HAVE to put the "-" between the two words and also realized how much I believe in the philosophy behind service-learning. I stopped and thanked her for her presentation afterwards and received a big hug and some encouraging words, "Keep up what you're doing. We need strong, intelligent women in this field. You're doing great things."

Needless to say, I was re-inspired last week and came to work today remembering why I decided to be a VISTA in the first place. Before I made my choice last October, I was seriously thinking about getting some kind of Master's degree in Service-Learning, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to go back to school. Unfortunately, I feel like I am now... the money just isn't there at the moment. Everything will all work out in the end, I know it will.

A quick side note: Hearing Miss America (Katie Stam is from Indiana) speak during lunch on the first day was very uplifting. She is a wonderful speaker and moved much of the audience with her insight into service and volunteerism. During lunch that same day I witnessed a 91 year old women receive a lifetime achievement award for the 17,000 hours of service she has clocked (that's not including some of her early volunteer experiences). It was a good lunch. :)

I've also come to the conclusion that my ultimate career goal in life is to run a service-learning program in a high school. Yep, that would be a perfect job for me.