Spring Conference Success and Thanks
By LeighAnn Matthews
It’s hard to believe that the 2023 Spring Conference has already come and gone! This year’s theme highlighted collaboration – and that certainly is also at the heart of planning for and organizing the conference. One might assume that as the conference chair I do a lot of the work, but that could not be further from the truth. The success of the conference is truly due to the efforts of many others – the Hyatt hotel staff, keynote speakers, our workshop presenters, exhibitors and sponsors, volunteers, invited guests, attendees, and of course the conference committee. Many thanks to our Conference Coordinator, Caia Schlessinger, our Exhibitor Liaison, Tina Kern, our Technology Coordinator, Marilyn Pongracz, our Business Administrator, Gwen Franks, and Executive Director, Kathleen Fernandez. Believe it or not, the conference committee is already busy planning for the 2024 Spring Conference!
Looking back on this year’s conference there were many memorable moments. We had three incredible keynote speakers: Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld, Dr. Edward Fergus, and Ms. Jacquelyn León. All three speakers captivated the audience and shared their excitement and expertise to start each day in an inspiring way. There were so many workshops to choose from it was hard to decide which to attend! In between sessions there were exhibitors to visit. So many great resources and tools that we could share with our colleagues after the conference. We hosted the annual President’s Awards ceremony where we honored scholarship and award winners. This is always one of my favorite events. And of course, plenty of chocolate cake to be had! I don’t know about you, but I will be thinking about that cake for the next year until I have it again!
I hope to see many of you in 2024 at the next Spring Conference! Have a great summer.
LeighAnn Matthews is the NJTESOL/BE Vice President and Conference Chair.
(See below for the links to the photo galleries.)