Wow, I feel like I've been around the world and back for the last couple of months. I usually love conferences and take a lot from them, but I can officially say that I am conferenced-out for the year.
In February I got to attend the Jubilee Conference for the second time. It's amazing to see the different connections from Christian Colleges and Camp that intertwine there. It's also amazing that I can never get a good nights rest at Jubilee ever. The concept that stuck out this year was a couple of speakers who spoke on the concept of "veneer". Veneer is wood paneling or flooring that you can get which looks like really good quality wood on the outside but on the inside it's just compressed cheap wood (Pretty much anything from Ikea). This concept is suppose to challenge us in how we carry ourselves and what we present to the world. Is it genuine? Are you being transparent and showing people your real self and the scars and pain that you have suffered? Because those are the things that make you who you are. So the metaphor of wood continues. The concept of aged wood. Wood that has been exposed to the outside elements such as the scorching sun, and long cold winters. This wood has different scars and marks that indicate where it has been, but this wood is absolutely beautiful when you look at it. So the concept to take away is simply that Scars are Beauty.
A couple of days later I got to attend the National Student Leadership Conference at Taylor University. This was more of a scouting trip to see if we should bring students from Geneva in the next couple of years. It was weird to walk around Taylor and see it for myself because my concept of that school was always formed from stories that my friends at camp would tell me about. I caught myself laughing to myself often thinking of crazy things my friends Adam and Nate did and trying to picture them in the place I was at. I was very impressed with Taylor students overall. They were extremely hospitable. The conference was student run and the different types of key-note speakers and workshop speakers that they brought in was very impressive.
My conference tour came to an end this past Wednesday when I returned from Philadelphia. I attended a two part conference. The first part was called The Placement Exchange. This is where virtually every single University and College in America who is hiring for Student Affairs positions comes and interviews potential candidates. I believe there was 3000 candidates there and about 11,000 interviews that were done in the span of 4 days. I personally contributed to that 11,000 with my 11 interviews I had with various institutions (I will update this blog in the next few weeks with where I get on campus interviews and such). The second part of the conference was the actual NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel and Administrators) conference. Even though I was running on fumes by the end of this conference and I'm still paying for it as I type this, it was definitely an amazing conference. My passion for Racial Reconciliation was fed, by various workshops. My anger towards SB1070(Arizona Immigration law) was renewed. My hope for Student Affairs was restored by the numerous amounts of diversity that was represented at the conference. It was so awesome to see so many different types of faces there.
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