[Music]
it was recently asked if there was one
moment in my life that had me pause and
switched tracks many I thought sadly
some I’d like to forget because the
tracks led to darkness and a few I will
never forget because from the darkness
came the light I want to share with you
one such moment in France best July 14th
is a French national holiday called
Bastille Day it celebrates a turning
point in the French Revolution and the
unity of the French people in 2016 on
that day I was in Nice with five
students and my daughter my students
were attending a three-week innovation
and entrepreneurship program with about
400 students from around the world and
while much of nice was closed for the
holidays it was business as usual for me
and my students little did I know when
this photo was taken on Bastille Day
that the day would end with these two
young men
Shmuel and Misha impacting my life in
such a meaningful but different ways one
through life and one through loss of
life yet both causing me to pause and
reflect on my own humanity reminding me
to be the light life can change in a
moment and it did early evening about
thirty thousand people made their way to
the promenade to celebrate the holiday
despite efforts to watch the fireworks
with my students plans changed and I
stayed at one of the ends of the
promenade to watch and celebrate with my
daughter and two colleagues I remember
it being a pretty spectacular night one
moment the lights from the fireworks
we’re adding Sparkle and joy to the
evening mood and then everything went
dark what I remember is hearing chaos
and looking and seeing thousands of
people running towards me and screaming
I don’t recall what I thought other than
where’s my daughter she had wandered
down the promenade to capture photos of
the fireworks but thankfully she felt an
urge and she had returned before I knew
it we were being herded out the back end
of the restaurant while gunshots were
filling the air I began to panic and was
thinking is this really happening safety
was the only thing going through my mind
and at that moment my thoughts went to
my students and I
realized I had left my phone on the
table I was paralyzed by the thought of
no connection to them then what I
considered an act of courage my
colleagues husband went back through the
restaurant and returned with my phone
where do you go when no place feels safe
well I knew that squatting and hiding
behind a car was not the best option we
could hear the doors on the streets
beginning to slam and lock our first
instinct was to hide in a dumpster but
when we ran back to the doors into that
entry were closed we tried several
apartment doors all locked then finally
we met one just closing and with open
hearts they led us in my heart was
pounding I had a message from one of my
students Rebekah Lana
Misha’s been shot Lana
Misha’s been hit Lana Misha’s gone and
then I kept getting updates with
shakings hands I messaged a colleague to
call me after speaking she triggered the
emergency response at McEwen and McKean
became my lifeline between home and
niece I couldn’t get to my students that
night as the mayor had called lockdown
on the whole city and I wasn’t able to
leave until early morning I can’t
describe how difficult it was for me not
knowing if my students were safe but
once home I got a text and a photo from
Rebekah saying they had ich mall they
had all pulled their mattresses into one
dorm room and were sleeping together I
knew they had each other I slept for two
hours than the morning brought clarity
as to what had happened so what really
happened Ishmael has described to me
what he heard and experienced
I won’t tell his story that’s for him to
tell but what I will say is what he
heard was the eerie sound which was the
19 ton truck quietly accelerating
towards them it’s lights were out
no one knew what was coming it was
seconds before he and seven other
students realized the driver was
intentionally running over people and
they jumped to get out of the way during
this unthinkable act of terrorism
ton truck traveled almost two kilometers
taken the lives of 86 people and
injuring 458 others for the next six
days I was McEwan’s representative on
the ground
partly because I would not come home not
until we found Misha he was one of the
five students who was missing from the
program for those next six days the job
was not the job I went down with but my
life had prepared me for it I was
McEwan’s representative on the ground
and I just said that Misha was one of
five students who was missing from the
program my most important job I had for
those six days was the being mom to this
group of students this tribe this was a
day where the motions ran the roller
coaster tracks from the lowest of low up
to the very high these young men told us
their stories of being on the promenade
their lived experience of losing three
of their friends in the attack Misha
basil yeskey was one of the victims we
cried yet in the end were able to find
joy and develop a bond that forms only
in the hearts Tuesday July 19th was a
surreal day at 11 a.m. we met at the
victim services to be with Mischa’s
family at their request we wanted to be
there for them to help celebrate
Mischa’s memory to hold space to share
stories to hold hands and to hold hearts
in that evening we all gathered on the
promenade to pay respects for all the
lives that were lost during the attack
there were lots of Tears lots of hugs
and many many moments of silence the
experience of coming together strong and
in solidarity is a powerful human
experience I came back from France
wanting to cultivate a deeper personal
and social awareness so I could be at my
best to serve our common human future I
came home with more questions than
answers how are we so connected yet so
disconnected why is it only in times of
crisis that we come together in
solidarity and with understanding
regardless of our differences how do we
lay new tracks to humanize education I
was struck by a couple of things in nice
first was the complexity of an emergency
response we’re all people who must come
together in a coordinated effort machine
intelligence could coordinate and
communicate much of what made the
necessary actions more efficient but it
was the human connection the empathy
displayed by all the people that created
this feeling of solidarity I came home
with insight that terrorism could not
whither the human spirit nor could
technology ever replace us we are all
joined by something uniquely human and I
believe that it is our capacity to
connect and empathize from the heart it
also struck me that we worry so much
about students success that we forget
that the most meaningful learnings come
from failure from challenge from an
experience who positives outcomes are
not known
we still educate students in silos but
that’s not how the world operates it’s
messy it’s complex it’s uncertain we
need to educate more in the way that we
experience life and prepare students to
be confident in their values and skills
their ability to adapt to create and to
learn and to get up when knocked down so
they are strong enough to make their way
not just through the thinkable but
through the unthinkable
this will help prepare students for a
world in which they will follow their
hearts and seek their ways of being
forces for good their ways of
contributing to creating a world where
the tragedy of nice of Misha becomes
unthinkable
if niece taught me anything it was this
when our young people were no longer
there to take a course as students but
to take their own measures as people
what they knew and who they were were
each so important and I had to ask
myself if as an educator I was
all I could do to help them along their
way so herein lies my challenge as an
educator and perhaps yours to whatever
our area of expertise might be we are
all called to show our students not what
to see but how to look for a new mindset
and a new worldview when that integrates
fully their knowledge and skills their
willingness to step up to step out their
resilience in the face of adversity and
a well forged sense of their own
humanity if I do not meet this challenge
I risk my students being too easily
seduced by unthinking and inhumane
ideology and doing what is easy
what is shiny what increases the
bottom-line by what gets them what they
want with no regard for the broader
consequences of their actions
nice took me deeply into the dark now in
the light that has followed I’m inspired
to do more to do better to lay new
tracks thank you
[Applause]
[Applause]
it was recently asked if there was one
moment in my life that had me pause and
switched tracks many I thought sadly
some I’d like to forget because the
tracks led to darkness and a few I will
never forget because from the darkness
came the light I want to share with you
one such moment in France best July 14th
is a French national holiday called
Bastille Day it celebrates a turning
point in the French Revolution and the
unity of the French people in 2016 on
that day I was in Nice with five
students and my daughter my students
were attending a three-week innovation
and entrepreneurship program with about
400 students from around the world and
while much of nice was closed for the
holidays it was business as usual for me
and my students little did I know when
this photo was taken on Bastille Day
that the day would end with these two
young men
Shmuel and Misha impacting my life in
such a meaningful but different ways one
through life and one through loss of
life yet both causing me to pause and
reflect on my own humanity reminding me
to be the light life can change in a
moment and it did early evening about
thirty thousand people made their way to
the promenade to celebrate the holiday
despite efforts to watch the fireworks
with my students plans changed and I
stayed at one of the ends of the
promenade to watch and celebrate with my
daughter and two colleagues I remember
it being a pretty spectacular night one
moment the lights from the fireworks
we’re adding Sparkle and joy to the
evening mood and then everything went
dark what I remember is hearing chaos
and looking and seeing thousands of
people running towards me and screaming
I don’t recall what I thought other than
where’s my daughter she had wandered
down the promenade to capture photos of
the fireworks but thankfully she felt an
urge and she had returned before I knew
it we were being herded out the back end
of the restaurant while gunshots were
filling the air I began to panic and was
thinking is this really happening safety
was the only thing going through my mind
and at that moment my thoughts went to
my students and I
realized I had left my phone on the
table I was paralyzed by the thought of
no connection to them then what I
considered an act of courage my
colleagues husband went back through the
restaurant and returned with my phone
where do you go when no place feels safe
well I knew that squatting and hiding
behind a car was not the best option we
could hear the doors on the streets
beginning to slam and lock our first
instinct was to hide in a dumpster but
when we ran back to the doors into that
entry were closed we tried several
apartment doors all locked then finally
we met one just closing and with open
hearts they led us in my heart was
pounding I had a message from one of my
students Rebekah Lana
Misha’s been shot Lana
Misha’s been hit Lana Misha’s gone and
then I kept getting updates with
shakings hands I messaged a colleague to
call me after speaking she triggered the
emergency response at McEwen and McKean
became my lifeline between home and
niece I couldn’t get to my students that
night as the mayor had called lockdown
on the whole city and I wasn’t able to
leave until early morning I can’t
describe how difficult it was for me not
knowing if my students were safe but
once home I got a text and a photo from
Rebekah saying they had ich mall they
had all pulled their mattresses into one
dorm room and were sleeping together I
knew they had each other I slept for two
hours than the morning brought clarity
as to what had happened so what really
happened Ishmael has described to me
what he heard and experienced
I won’t tell his story that’s for him to
tell but what I will say is what he
heard was the eerie sound which was the
19 ton truck quietly accelerating
towards them it’s lights were out
no one knew what was coming it was
seconds before he and seven other
students realized the driver was
intentionally running over people and
they jumped to get out of the way during
this unthinkable act of terrorism
ton truck traveled almost two kilometers
taken the lives of 86 people and
injuring 458 others for the next six
days I was McEwan’s representative on
the ground
partly because I would not come home not
until we found Misha he was one of the
five students who was missing from the
program for those next six days the job
was not the job I went down with but my
life had prepared me for it I was
McEwan’s representative on the ground
and I just said that Misha was one of
five students who was missing from the
program my most important job I had for
those six days was the being mom to this
group of students this tribe this was a
day where the motions ran the roller
coaster tracks from the lowest of low up
to the very high these young men told us
their stories of being on the promenade
their lived experience of losing three
of their friends in the attack Misha
basil yeskey was one of the victims we
cried yet in the end were able to find
joy and develop a bond that forms only
in the hearts Tuesday July 19th was a
surreal day at 11 a.m. we met at the
victim services to be with Mischa’s
family at their request we wanted to be
there for them to help celebrate
Mischa’s memory to hold space to share
stories to hold hands and to hold hearts
in that evening we all gathered on the
promenade to pay respects for all the
lives that were lost during the attack
there were lots of Tears lots of hugs
and many many moments of silence the
experience of coming together strong and
in solidarity is a powerful human
experience I came back from France
wanting to cultivate a deeper personal
and social awareness so I could be at my
best to serve our common human future I
came home with more questions than
answers how are we so connected yet so
disconnected why is it only in times of
crisis that we come together in
solidarity and with understanding
regardless of our differences how do we
lay new tracks to humanize education I
was struck by a couple of things in nice
first was the complexity of an emergency
response we’re all people who must come
together in a coordinated effort machine
intelligence could coordinate and
communicate much of what made the
necessary actions more efficient but it
was the human connection the empathy
displayed by all the people that created
this feeling of solidarity I came home
with insight that terrorism could not
whither the human spirit nor could
technology ever replace us we are all
joined by something uniquely human and I
believe that it is our capacity to
connect and empathize from the heart it
also struck me that we worry so much
about students success that we forget
that the most meaningful learnings come
from failure from challenge from an
experience who positives outcomes are
not known
we still educate students in silos but
that’s not how the world operates it’s
messy it’s complex it’s uncertain we
need to educate more in the way that we
experience life and prepare students to
be confident in their values and skills
their ability to adapt to create and to
learn and to get up when knocked down so
they are strong enough to make their way
not just through the thinkable but
through the unthinkable
this will help prepare students for a
world in which they will follow their
hearts and seek their ways of being
forces for good their ways of
contributing to creating a world where
the tragedy of nice of Misha becomes
unthinkable
if niece taught me anything it was this
when our young people were no longer
there to take a course as students but
to take their own measures as people
what they knew and who they were were
each so important and I had to ask
myself if as an educator I was
all I could do to help them along their
way so herein lies my challenge as an
educator and perhaps yours to whatever
our area of expertise might be we are
all called to show our students not what
to see but how to look for a new mindset
and a new worldview when that integrates
fully their knowledge and skills their
willingness to step up to step out their
resilience in the face of adversity and
a well forged sense of their own
humanity if I do not meet this challenge
I risk my students being too easily
seduced by unthinking and inhumane
ideology and doing what is easy
what is shiny what increases the
bottom-line by what gets them what they
want with no regard for the broader
consequences of their actions
nice took me deeply into the dark now in
the light that has followed I’m inspired
to do more to do better to lay new
tracks thank you
[Applause]
[Applause]
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