This year, I attended the 2023 NAIS People of Color Conference in St. Louis, MO, November 29-December 2. My previous participation of this conference was in 2019, Seattle WA - during pre Covid times. I greatly value the opportunity to move away from my regular schedule/life and connect with my Burke's colleagues as well and with former colleagues. What I also find very important and meaningful is making new contacts and connections with educators at other schools throughout the country. The prospect of potential collaboration with new friends is appealing to me.

As expected, the speakers for this conference were superior and I especially enjoyed the presentation given by Lacey Schwartz Delgado. My interests in Latinx/Hispanic issues are profound; I am always "on the hunt" to find new and important perspectives regarding the Latinx experience. In several of the sessions I attended, I met other teachers who engage in fascinating work regarding curriculum and raising the awareness of Latinx culture. I came away from these conversations with exciting thoughts regarding Spanish language curriculum and the promotion of Latinx culture - in particularly the involvement of women. I am a huge fan of collaboration and I am rethinking a multidisciplinary project focused on the contributions of women in Latinx music; this collaboration would involve the Upper School visual arts and music teachers and a newly made friend/association (a Latinx musician). A personal/professional goal of mine is to present this work at a future PoCC conference.

I am appreciative and indebted to Burke's director of DEIB, Renita LiVolsi, and to the director of Curriculum and Innovation, Fran Yang. Their enduring support and guidance to such endeavors feed my curiosity and desire to extend myself as an educator.