By Amy Wallot
amy.wallot@education.ky.gov
The 2014 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) Multi-State Conference brought together directors from Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana to share best practices and innovations in after-school and summer programming.
Conference chair Brigette Stacy said more than 750 educators, afterschool and summer learning leaders gathered to inspire, connect and learn from one another.
The conference featured more than 75 workshops, an evening reception at Churchill Downs and networking over three days. Ron Clark, “America’s Educator,” author of The Essential 55 and featured on Oprah, NBC’s Today show and CNN, was the conference’s keynote speaker.
I stopped by the conference to listen to a panel discussion on College and Career Readiness featuring Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, Commissioner Terry Holliday and Betsy Brand, executive director of the American Youth Policy Forum.
Before the panel started, I had the truly fun opportunity to peek into a session presented by Jason Lindsey with Hooked on Science. Through a handful of demonstrations, Lindsey wanted the group to understand that students can learn while having fun and to get a better understanding of the components of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 24, 2014

Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 24, 2014

Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 24, 2014

Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 24, 2014

Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 24, 2014

Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 24, 2014