ISCORE

At the ISCORE conference held on March 7th, 2014 I had the opportunity to attend two sessions. The first was the luncheon including the keynote speaker, and the second was called "The Land before I'm: Winners Write History."

I would like to start off the first session with noting how delicious the food was. I wasn't entirely sure if I was going to appreciate the Native American themed dishes as much as I would have liked to but I absolutely LOVED IT. Anyway, we had the chance to listen to Harold L. Martin speak while practicing our fine etiquette skills. He spoke about where he had been in his life and all of the adversities he had to overcome in order to get where he was going. It was a very intriguing lecture that seemed to allow us as individuals realize how much we should appreciate all of things we take for granted in life and how not long ago we didn't have all of the rights we do today. There were a few quotes Harold had mentioned in which I really liked and will hopefully be able to add to my wall of quotes in my room.
       
         " Through our differences we make differences"
         " It is not where you're from or where you've been but where you're going and where you end"
         " You have absolutely no excuse not to give your best efforts towards success"

Although I did find some of these quotes very inspiring and relatable, there were a few others that were a little harder for me to relate to but they still spoke volumes. Harold spoke about being able to do whatever you want as good as anyone else can do even though you have a skin of color and also the importance of making your presence and success felt, because you are no one's project. I may not be able to completely relate to these specific topics because I may not have experienced situations in which this would completely be directed towards but as a mentor I would want my mentees to know this about themselves. I would want them to be able to realize that they can speak volumes on their own and do not have to work through these adversities because inside you they do not exist.

At "The Land Before I'm: Winners Write History" we learned about the history of our lands. Often when being taught history we tend to glorify the new settlers and what they did with the lands instead of realizing the harsh truths of what they had to do in order to achieve those lands. This lecture allowed us to understand the history of native american tribes that had been established in Iowa before being kicked out by early settlers. They endured many hardships and from this lecture I do believe that is important to teach our society today about what had really happened and how these tribes were lead to being separated and even diminished completely.