Day 1: Everything has a beginning and an end. Last week in Ohio was a time of new starts and remembering. I arrived at the Hilton Netherlands Plaza in Cincinnati, Ohio after an 18 hour drive from Tampa, Florida. I got to tour around the beautiful city with my family until I was needed. Around noon, I said good bye to my parents and hello to some of the incoming and out going ITO. We all met in our meeting room for welcomes and a Q&A session with the outgoing ITO. It was nice to learn about their experience and throughout the meeting all our delayed friends made there way in. Finally when we were all together, we headed out to eat dinner together. Following dinner can the reception where we met some of the chapter directors.
Day 2 was full of new starts. Matthew and I got to learn more about our liaison positions and expectation. Then throughout the day we had different meetings about leadership, advocacy, values and goals. After a long day of learning and growing with each other, all the directors and ITOs got a special treat. Our lovely Ms. Carr, EdTA member, hosted a pool party where we were able to just hangout and get to know each other better.
Day 3 was full of emotions. We had more meetings focusing on leadership and advocacy workshops. At different points of the meetings we had to start saying good bye. First to the outgoing ITOs. They have been a true inspiration to me and many other leaders. Their journey may be coming to an end but the friendships they have made will last a life time. We then had lunch at Panera and said our final good byes.
Summit was an amazing time full of memories and new knowledge. I got the opportunity to meet people from all over the states and learn from them. This was an experience I will never forget.