The End of an Era

Yesterday was a huge day for the INDEVOURS of 2014.  We each presented a ten minute capstone presentation on our placement experiences to a panel of judges who are development practitioners, and an audience of professors, fellow students, and members of the public.  It was fascinating to hear eight months of my friends' lives distilled into ten minutes of what they learned, how they changed, and observations of the cultures we lived in.  Thank you to all the INDEVOURS for being honest, baring your hearts and personal experiences to an audience, and for supporting each other during the long day.  At the end, a people's choice award and a judge's choice award were presented to two of us: Liam's pondering of the 'white men do it best' attitude and question about whether or not to compromise won the people's choice award, and my 'Potholes of Placement' and advice for future INDEVOURS resulted in me receiving the judge's choice award (totally shocked and amazed, folks - there were amazing presentations all around, and I definitely did not think I had a chance).  We had St. Paul's University College rings presented to us in a small ceremony led by the core team of staff who have headed our program, and then had a wonderful celebratory dinner with those UW staff and the INDEVOURS 2015 who are beginning their spring term prior to going out on placement.  It was a great way to round out four years of hard work, relationship building, and personal discovery.  And with that final flourish, we have passed the baton on to a new cohort of INDEVOURS to continue to improve the program, become development practitioners through a mix of theoretical and practical application, and to create change in this world of ours.

This ending also brings about a new beginning  - I am a graduate, a newly minted development professional, and I have two and a half months before my next adventure kicks into high gear!  So, welcome to the redesigned blog, which will be following me into this era.  Life is good, and I will be sure to keep you all updated on the exciting happenings that occur as I begin to prepare to move to Malawi to teach at ABC Christian Academy.  But for now... I'm coming home.