Walla Walla Community College Director of Outreach Melissa Rodriguez recently received a full scholarship to attend the RE3 Women of Color Leadership Summit in San Diego. The event (held January 31 to February 2) was organized by EquityworksNW and attended by leaders in higher education, government and nonprofits from all over the United States.
Rodriguez was honored to be included.
“It was incredible to be in a room with so many inspiring leaders,” she says. “Together, we worked through some problems of practice and learned from each other through that collaborative process.”
The summit’s “RE3” theme focused on:
- Reimagining Leadership: Strengthening adaptive leadership competencies and applied anti-racist leadership practice.
- Recentering Equity and Social Justice: Rooting leadership in equity-first commitments to student and community success.
- Restoring Vision and Voice: Building and finding joy in a vibrant community of practice that reflects and supports the power of your vision and voice.
Co-organizer Nani Jackins Park said, “It’s our vision for each of us to leave the Summit experience with a restored connection to our own brilliance and capacity to transform our work, and in turn our institutions/organizations and our communities. We are brilliant, and we’re the leaders we’ve been waiting for.”
Organizers have provided a community platform for attendees to stay connected and continue helping each other in the future. Rodriguez came away inspired by the opportunity to connect with her peers — and energized for her work at WWCC and in the community. “The support network will be invaluable as I continue to be involved in the Hispanic-Serving Institution Taskforce and in Strategic Enrollment work at WWCC, as well as working toward my own professional goals,” she says.
This was the first RE3 Women of Color Leadership Summit, and participants voiced a strong desire to repeat it in the future.
