“New Orleans hates change,” shared one of our tour guides, yet
this city experienced an incredible series of disasters: a hurricane, failure
of infrastructure, and political shortcomings. Over the past decade, the city has emerged from the ferocious
social and political issues with a strong vision for the communities that call
New Orleans home once again.
The last time I had been
in New Orleans was in July of 2006. I arrived with a group from my church in an
effort to help two families literally dig out of the debris and wreckage that
filled their homes following hurricane Katrina. We stripped it down the bare
studs so they could either rebuild or move on with their lives. It was a massive
undertaking- body suits and all.
(after)
As for the Fall CAE
Conference, I was pleasantly surprised. I was the only one attending from my
firm, so I half expected most of my interactions to come through the typical
business card transaction and brief conversations with those sitting around me
and those presenting. Instead, I met two people in particular that I now consider
friends, and whom I learned from through the week. We were able to test our
experiences to what we were hearing, and ask brand new questions. I was looking forward to finding ‘answers’ and
scientific data - information that would enlighten my work and understanding of
our clients through this conference. While the data was there, the dialogue
with presenters and the questions that came out of these friendships were the
most valuable to my experience.
The content went beyond
the unique characteristics of individual learners and pedagogy to illustrate
the symbiotic relationship between students
and their communities. As Andre Perry discussed in his session, schools
may be the biggest investment a community ever makes, so shouldn’t school teach
how to be a part of the community? After all, education certainly enables
people to do more than just earn a living. It empowers people to take control
of their lives.
We heard one of the
biggest challenges facing learners today are underdeveloped social skills and
lack of empathy. I hope to see the focus and value of community integration,
consensus building, and community involvement reach into the lives of the
emerging generations, helping students find identity and their self-determined
place in life.
I expected this trip to New
Orleans to be quite different from my first experience, but my goal remained
similar - to connect with people in a way that enables a brighter future for someone
else.
I want to extend a special Thank You to this committee and to my firm for
making this experience possible, and to those who invested their time to effort
to share their knowledge. I look forward to the work before us.
Best,
Lana