I wanted my students to attend to so I offered the opportunity to swap some traditional assignments for some non traditional assignments. Instead of writing stuff that I wanted them to write about, they would attend the conference, select three panels of their choice, and write about what they learned from those panels.
The feedback from my students was unexpected. They loved the conference -not just the presentations but meeting students from other colleges from various level of study. They were excited and we spent a good part of each class the week after the conference discussing the conference in general and the presentations in particular.
This makes me want to revive the student conferences the History Club used to host pre-2012. Usually one in October (with no particular theme except "History") and one in March with a women's studies theme. Vamos a ver.
So many participants knew Dr. Pocarello. We spent much time before and between sessions reminiscing about her and her impact to this college. Her presence is felt and known far and wide.
And thank you to all of the HCC faculty and staff who worked so diligently so make this conference a success to include Natalie, Samantha, Jesse, Stalina, Rosie, Erica, Melinda, Martha, Veronica, Daisy and Alejandra. As Natalie said, "It was a lot of work but y'all made it a labor of love. Here's to work that matters."
