The Opening Session of the Midwest Literacy Institute on Monday features a mix of business and education thought leaders as we discuss the skill set of a 21st Century citizen.
I have a few exercises planned that will engage both the panel and the attendees. I think the perceived discrepancies between what’s going on in schools and what’s necessary in the workforce or more a language gap than a void in practice — but we’ll see.
Here’s the lineup for Monday morning:
Kelly Boon is the founder and Executive Director of partners Unlimited, a non-profit organization that transforms lives through the creative arts. partners Unlimited is designed to be an international model for building inclusion and promoting cultural respect and peace through reducing fears and building relationship through the arts.
Andy Drish writes about Marketing, Millennials, and Technology at AndyDrish.com. He’s currently doing at Leadership Development Rotation at Principal Financial and he also runs minternships, where he helps connect small businesses with college students. In his spare time, Andy loves traveling, speaking, and playing with his dog Zoey.
Eric Martin is the Director of Outreach at the Institute for Character Development (ICD) at Drake University. The ICD works to mobilize character development initiatives across the state of Iowa to create an environment of civility and principled decision making. The ICD works with schools, agencies, communities and businesses to illustrate that character counts, everywhere all the time.
Dan Meyer is the Principal at Urbandale Middle School and was recently named Iowa’s Middle School Principal of the Year. Prior to his work at Urbandale, Dan served in similar capacity at Lewis Central Middle School. Dan has also spent many years in education as a footrball and basketball coach.
Deb Olson serves as the Director of Curriculum at Clinton Community School District. She also serves on the Board of Junior Achievement of Heartland, a partnership of business and education leaders to promote the understanding of economics.
Denny Presnall serves as the Executive Director and Secretary-Treasurer of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Senior Vice President-Secretary of Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company. He is past-President and current member of the Ankeny school board, and a member and former chairman of the Iowa High School Athletic Association board of control, and a member of the board of directors for Valley Bank.
Adam Steen Until recently, Adam has spent the last four years as an Intrapreneur with Transition Capital Management. As of May 1st, he has taking the leap into entrepreneurship and created a company called 25Connections. His company has been built to act as an out-sourced business development firm for companies that need to increase sales.
We have a handful of seats still remaining, so if you’re in the area – drop in. We’ll not turn any learner away. It’s going to be a phenomenal week!
Image on Flickr by MikeSansone via Wordle
