2011 Education Summit
The Annual Summits are designed to:
Reflect the work of the local community through breakout session presentations
Bring in national speakers to inform, inspire, encourage and engage the community sectors, stakeholders, who have direct influence on the decisions children and youth make in their educational journeys.
This year, the Summit theme was “Designing Our Future” and Keynote Speaker Eileen Walker, CEO of the Association of University Research Parks opened the Summit. Walker shared experiences about communities that build on their unique advantages and praised the work of the BRIC (Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative.
During the Thursday general sessions, Dr. Paul Illich gave his annual Alliance Community Success Indicator Report, giving benchmarks against which the community can gauge its progress, and Dr. Roland Goertz provided a brief history of the evolution of the "The Family Health Center, A Critical Part of the Healthcare Safety Net for McLennan County, Texas".
Wes Moore, Rhodes Scholar, combat veteran, and author of The Other Wes Moore, One Book, One Waco 2011 selection, gave the Thursday afternoon keynote address. Moore gave an account of his early years growing up in identical circumstances in Baltimore with "the other Wes Moore" who is now serving a life sentence in prison, speaking briefly about his writing process and discussing the opportunities and importance of education in America.
On Friday, Kate Rogers, representing CEO Charles Butt and H-E-B, received the first Virginia DuPuy Partnership Excellence Award and gave an account of the ambitious investment H-E-B is making to impact on literacy in Texas through their Read 3 Child Literacy Initiative.
Eleven of the area ISD Superintendents presented their draft of the Shared Vision Statement that promises to add significant energy and clarity not only to the Superintendents’ work but to the community's support of and engagement in "sending children to school ready to learn."
The Summit also included 28 Breakout Sessions on community work in Tracks on Business, Higher Education, Health, Early Childhood, K-12 Education, Community Resources, Poverty and Stakeholder Work. Student music groups from Rapoport Academy, WISD, St. Paul’s, La Vega ISD and Midway ISD added an important dimension to the General Sessions.
Over 450 people attended and contributed to the Summit's success, and evaluations through the Alliance Survey continue to come in, sharing perceptions and ideas for next year's Summit, the fifth Summit that will launch the next five years of Education Alliance Summits.