• 2010 Minneapolis
• 2013 Houston
• 2014 Pitttsburg
• 2015 Orlando
• 2016 San Diego
• 2017 St. Louis

The conventions always prove to be a wonderful opportunity to grow as a Catholic, teacher, and friend. Each year has special memories. It’s so hard to blog about all of them so I’m sticking to a format I used last year of 5 quick (sort of) takes.

1.    The Daily Liturgies – where else can you attend Mass with 8,000 people? Well, maybe a Papal Mass…and St. Louis did borrow an idea from a Papal Mass…they had umbrellas! The music was lovely. I especially enjoyed Thursday’s teacher choir. I also used Audioboom to record each homily and you can find them on the blog.

NCEA17 Opening Mass

NCEA17 Mass Day 2

NCEA17 Closing Mass

Umbrella to show you where you can receive the Eucharist

2. Presenting, with Debbie Fucoloro, a standing room only session on BreakoutEDU. Debbie and I were overwhelmed with the popularity of our session. Could it be because the Breakout idea is awesome? Click HERE to learn more about Breakout. We only brought 4 boxes for our session which made our presentation not as interactive as we had hoped. At the very least we were able to share our love and passion for Breakout!

BreakoutEDU session with Debbie

BreakoutEDU

BreakoutEDU

Hasp and Locks

3. The Keynote with Jonathan Doyle. Jonathan’s Keynote really touched my heart! I knew he would have a wonderful message as he built up the anticipation through Twitter in the weeks before the convention. He inspired, encouraged, and centered me in remembering the primary and secondary vocation that God has given me. I was able to meet with him and his beautiful wife in the Expo hall. Of course I bought his book and gave him a big hug. A few tears were shed too…that’s when a speaker realizes that God is working through him…tears of the Spirit were shed!

Jonathan Doyle and I

4. The Expo Hall – I know you are wondering why an Expo Hall, at a convention, would be a highlight. The NCEA Expo Hall is like no other I have attended. The people at the booths are so nice. You will not find pushy sales people. The hall is filled with ‘Cut Out People’ so you can take a photo. The hall is filled with wonderful books. I bought so many books for myself and my classroom that I had a problem zipping my suitcase! I also bought many Tiny Saints keychains and other medals. In a word the Expo Hall, rocked!

NCEA Expo Hall

5. The people! Yup. The people. Attending a NCEA convention is all about being with my peeps, my tribe, my buds. This year had a unique twist. I was featured on the Fall 2016 cover of the magazine Today’s Catholic Teacher. When I think back to joining Twitter on May 1, 2007, I used a photo of me when I was 5. I wanted to be anonymous because I thought I didn’t have much to offer the world. I was ‘just’ a Catholic school teacher working with my 3rd grade students. I now feel differently about that. We all have valuable ideas and opinions to share and meeting IRL after #CatholicEdChat twitter chats is the best! Connecting with my peeps, my tribe, my buds and getting and giving a hug gives me energy and encouragement to continue in my secondary vocation as a Catholic school teacher.

This year also had a fun game that the St. Louis teachers played. I was a box in the #NCEA17 Bingo card. I never knew that being a space on a Bingo card was a #lifegoal but it certainly should be on everyone’s list!

NCEA17 some of my peeps

#NCEA17 Pics

…The Surprise…Aaron Heintz is tall!

This past fall, Nancy and I, had the honor of presenting a webinar on Connecting for Professional Learning with PLNs and Growth Mindset for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Technology Department. The whole team was so professional and very nice. Aaron was online during the webinar as part of the AOP tech team and you just don’t get a sense of height from a computer screen.

Aaron and I

and finally…with the convention being in St. Louis, I was able to see my son and daughter in law. We had dinner together right before I flew home. Because my son was in class and my daughter in law was at work, I ubered over to St. Louis University and spend 90 minutes at St. Francis Xavier church. It was the perfect ending to my NCEA adventure.

St. Francis Xavier church SLU