MEMBER FOCUS
Paraeducator Conference
Paraeducators Welcome New Experiences
Returning to the Ontario Convention Center again this year, the 28th Annual CSEA Paraeducator Conference created memories for eager educators. The 1400 attendees of the conference developed new friendships, fostered new skills in classes, and created a sense of community through new activities.
For nearly three decades, CSEA’s Paraeducator Conference has helped fill an educational gap for paraeducators and other classified school employees. It aims to educate the whole member with tools to use in the classroom, in their personal life, and with their chapters.
This year’s conference offered almost 40 classes presented by over 40 speakers. The classes change every year, and this year offered old favorites and exciting new additions. Some highlights included “Growth Mindset,” a new class that offered strategies for adapting to changing times; “Maintaining Mental Wellness,” where paras took a breath, drew on colorful papers, and danced in their seats; and a special CPR certification class prepared members for an emergency with both adult and baby manikins.
Colette Hetland, chair of the Paraeducator Conference Committee and Area B Director, said in her closing celebration remarks, “I hope each of you is leaving with something new—whether it’s knowledge, inspiration, friendships, or just the renewed confidence that what you do matters. Because it does.”
Paraeducator Conference is more than an in-depth educational and professional growth experience--it is also a space for paras to interact and network with their peers. Many attendees described the feeling of networking with so many other paras as mind-opening.
Jackie Hunter, member of Central Unified Chapter 474, described his experience of being in a room with so many peers as “exciting, because you get to meet people and hear ideas that you’ve never thought of.”
“To collaborate with and be able to touch thousands of people in one area is awesome!” said Hunter.
Friendships formed at Paraeducator Conference remain strong, despite county borders. A member shared that their best friend from the Conference lives on the opposite side of the state, and yet they are able to reconnect every year at this special event. Other Paras have a different approach:
“I really enjoy the community, I always come by myself, and I just enjoy it because everyone is so friendly,” said Amanda Sanchez, member of Pittsburg Chapter 44.
The ability to spend time with other paraeducators and make connections is an indispensable part of the Conference. Paras get to network in class, while eating meals together and over evening activities. This year, attendees collaborated on a brand-new interactive art mural, where members could check out a bucket full of markers and get to work on an expansive coloring mural that covered two large walls.
“When I started drawing yesterday, everyone was motivated to collaborate, inviting people to join in,” said Myrna Hiebert, member of Stockton Chapter 318. “I love this mural because the mural represents all of us as a family—a union family and also as a school family.”
