2026 Summer Convening
July 28–29, 2026, 9 AM to 3 PM
Southwestern Community College - Sylva, NC Burrell 102C
Join Open Way Learning and WNC Resilience Project partners for a two-day, hands-on convening focused on strengthening student engagement, belonging, wellbeing, and meaningful learning across Western North Carolina.
In the time since Hurricane Helene, schools and communities across the region have responded with care, creativity, and leadership. This convening builds on that momentum by bringing educators, school and district leaders, and community partners together to share what is emerging, strengthen regional connections, and take the next step forward.
Across two days, participants will explore practical approaches to experiential learning, social-emotional learning, teacher wellbeing, community-connected learning, and continuous improvement. The experience will include interactive sessions, local examples, reflection, collaboration, and design time to help participants move from ideas to small, testable next steps.
Who should attend?
This convening is designed for:
School and district teams working on student engagement, belonging, wellbeing, experiential learning, SEL, community-connected learning, or school improvement goals
Individual educators who want to develop a classroom-based change idea they can bring back to students
Community partners and youth-serving organizations interested in collaborating with schools and supporting meaningful learning across WNC
School teams will have time to connect the work to local priorities, school improvement goals, and shared next steps. Individual educators will have a supported pathway to develop a classroom-based change idea. Community partners are welcome to participate as collaborators, share relevant expertise, and explore natural connections with educators and schools.
Images of Possibility
We are also inviting participants to help create Images of Possibility by sharing simple examples of student-centered, community-connected, or educator-sustaining work already happening across WNC. This can be as low-lift as one photo plus one sentence describing what it shows. Examples may also include student artifacts, quotes, short project descriptions, or other evidence that helps others see what is possible and adapt ideas to their own context. No formal presentation is required.
What participants will leave with
By the end of the convening, participants will leave with practical artifacts that name:
A vision for strengthening student engagement, belonging, wellbeing, or meaningful learning
A possible change idea connected to their local context
A first step they can take after the convening
A simple way to learn from implementation
Together, we will continue building a regional effort to strengthen student engagement, belonging, wellbeing, and meaningful learning across WNC.
Participation support
Travel and participation stipends are available for a limited number of participants from each district.
Questions?
Contact Wes Davis at wes@openwaylearning.org.
