Three teacher candidates from the School of Education presented at the National Youth Advocacy and Resilience (NYAR) Conference this week.
Students, Marie Coffey, Danielle Hardy and Riley McEntyre along with faculty member, Dr. Aimee Cribbs, presented a breakout session titled, “Courageous Conversations: Transformational Leadership through Empathy.” Coffey, Hardy, and McEntyre were the only undergraduate presenters at the conference.
According to the NYAR website, “The conference trains adults who serve youth to create safe, healthy, caring and intellectually empowering educational environments that foster the well-being of all children and adolescents.”
The group conducted research in preparation for the conference, giving students the opportunity to participate in hands-on learning.
“The group shared strategies and techniques identified through surveys, reflections and evaluations as integral to having effective, transformative discussions about diversity,” said Cribbs. “They shared the importance of honesty, vulnerability and the willingness to acknowledge empathy gaps and our own errors in thinking.”
