This past year I had the opportunity for my second year to attend the People of Color Conference in St. Lous.

Here is the link to the conference site if you'd like to take a deeper dive: https://www.nais.org/pocc/

The theme for this conference was Gateways to Freedom: A Confluence of Truth, Knowledge, Joy, and Power. This theme wraps up what this conference is about, in my experience, there isn't another event I've been part of that enlightens me in so many different ways and so many different emotions.

The main speaker was Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad. She spoke to us about several topics but most importantly about how to harness the beauty, intelligence, and work of our students, especially the ones that might struggle in certain areas of education. It was an emotional journey but one that I think many people need to hear and one that many people can relate to. It was one that I needed to hear and was very healing.

I also attended the LatinX/Hispanic affinity group. This is the group I look forward to the most to get to attend, especially this being my second year, I knew what to expect and most importantly for me being surrounded by people that share the same, food, culture, language, and traditions, but also ones that don't have those but you still find a connection as a LatinoX/Hispanic.

In this workshop, we talk about finding and exploring the underneath, from our emotions, our work, our actions, and so on. Following the theme of the conference we split up into even smaller affinity groups that you choose yourself (for example, middle school teacher, white presenting, LGBTQ) and had several powerful and revealing questions to answer and share with your group. Hearing other people in my affinity group and yet a small group of them speak their emotions, their lives, their experiences, and feel a connection to a stranger that you really never thought you could have is powering all in itself. This is the type of environment that re-energizes you at all levels of your life, work, home, and spirit.

There were several other speakers and workshops that I attended but one that was also super powerful and fun was about identity through art. I was intrigued about this workshop because I don't consider myself super artistic but I do believe I have an artistic mind. The speaker was Ashley A. Jones, she spoke about her art projects and her struggle during COVID-19 to find work and how going back to education and teaching changed her life, her view, and her perspectives. She also talks about a great project that you can do in classrooms for kids to explore their identities inside and out. I was able to feel inspired. She also had some great digital ways for kids to express themselves through art in similar ways to drawing or painting.

All around this conference is a rejuvenation and energizer for me and makes me come back to work feeling happy, and empowered and continue to make a difference in any way I can to the children that attended our school. I hope I can continue to have the privilege to attend many more of this conferences.