*I always love the little snippets of conversation I have with people. I started talking to a woman in the hotel elevator, and she was from Canada, and here to attend a Travel Writer’s conference. She was sharing what an interesting city she thought Portland was, and said, “I saw a young man with lots of piercings sitting on a bench out on the street reading “Wuthering Heights”.
*I heard some very inspiring messages today at the conference. The speaker at breakfast, Dr. Joyce Brown, talked about how we as college access professionals were people in the lives of our students who were agents of hope. I also went to a session talking about “The Senior Year Cycle” and all the things students who are college bound need to do. My other morning session was called “Voices of Rural Schools: The Impact of Caring Relationships”. This woman was a school counselor at Newport High School in Newport, Oregon, and she shared about her thesis for her doctorate, and how is was based on how students who had one person in their life that they had a caring relationship with were more successful in college. It was really good.
*The lunch speaker was Denise Juneau, who was the Montana State Superintendent of Schools from 2009 to 2017. She also shared her story of growing up in Browning, Montana, and how her parents always expected her and her siblings to attend college, and not only better themselves, but better the world around them. She had a wonderful story to share.
*In the early evening, a group got on a bus that took us to the MODA Center so we could experience an NBA game. We watched the Portland Trailblazers play the Toronto Raptors. We were in the very top row of the center. But it was fun, and an enjoyable experience to be a part of a professional basketball game.
Final Score: Toronto 99, Portland 85
*As we were waiting for our group to arrive to head to the basketball game, the hotel was doing a promotion called Silent Disco Headphones. The hotel lobby had a table of headphones. If you wanted, you could put the headphones on, and choose between three types of music to listen to, and start dancing. It was completely free. There were people in costumes outside on the sidewalk dancing away. Hotel employees were all moving to the beat of the music on the headphones. There was a DJ set up in the hotel lobby playing the music, but you never heard any music, because it only came through the headphones. Who knew this was even a thing???
*When I arrived back at the hotel, I enjoyed talking to Paul on the phone, and listening to how the kid’s days went, then it was time for bed.
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