Today was a great day. It included the culminating event for the LC pre-con and the arrival of all the folks for DENSI.
In the morning, we made sack lunches and created sock monkeys to donate to a local homeless shelter. The monkeys, along with books that LC members brought with them, will be given to children. At the beginning of the sock monkey creation, none of us really knew what we were doing. With Dacia’s expert direction, we got into a pretty decent assembly line. Many of us began to take a special interest in the monkey we were making and by the time it was time to add a birth certificate and box them up, it was hard to let them go. Here is the monkey I dressed. I named her Summer:
Special thanks to Matt Graves, who took the picture. Matt also was the recipient of the first DEN finger for DENSI 2014 for being such a great example of the DEN by making many trips to the airport to pick up folks, including me! Thank you Matt!
As attendees arrived in the afternoon, it was so cool to see their excitement. Those who are attending DENSI for the first time renewed my own excitement as their shining faces and huge smiles were very contagious!
In the evening, we had a barbeque, which was delicious, and exchanged our state gifts. I got a wonderful pecan pie from Susanne Mahone, who is from Alabama. The pecans are significant to her state, but she also had a great story to tell about why pecans are significant to her. I love this tradition!
At the opening session, Porter announced keynote, Greg Siers, who is a TV and film producer. Greg kept apologizing for not being an educator, but his perspective as a gifted and bullied student who has made a huge success of his life was something no teacher could have given us. His story hit so close to home for me, I was moved to tears at least a couple of times. I feel moved to respond in some way, and will definitely be trying to find a way . . .
After dinner, we met with our teams for the week. It was great to begin to hear the stories as we did a teambuilding question and answer session. I can’t wait to learn more about Team Neene!
