CT After School meets President Obama

Or…Know Your Elevator Speech…
You Never Know Who You Are Going To Meet
by Ken Anthony, Director of Professional Development, CT After School Network

           Wednesday March 5^th started out like any other day, I had an afternoon meeting scheduled to talk about the upcoming webinar that highlights a summer learning model New Britain has been working on for the past three years that embodies partnership, community and district support, and shared outcomes (which will be the subject of another blog later this year). I was also meeting with a colleague for lunch at Café Beauregard in New Britain to discuss the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship through Furman University (for which I am an inaugural fellow and now faculty).

            About 10 minutes after we sat down and started talking about the role of after school in student success, a gentleman walked up to us and asked us if we could move our table and go through a security screen…a little perplexed we said of course. The man told us that the President of the United States and the Governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont would be there shortly for lunch. We had the option to leave or stay while the President ate lunch…we obviously opted to stay. As the nervousness crept in, I heard the voice of Terry Peterson in my head say, "Know your elevator speech, you never know who you are going to meet." I relaxed and thought about how to encapsulate the importance of the fellowship, the role of the Statewide Afterschool Networks (46 and growing nationwide), and the impact we as Statewide Networks have on policy, training, and advocacy at the state and national levels.

            As the President and New England Governors came into Café Beauregard I heard his voice. It sounded so surreal, like he was on the TV in the next room. There were only four customers including the two of us in the restaurant at the time. As he came up the stairs, he asked each of us to introduce and tell him a little bit about ourselves. When he got to me I was ready with what I was going to say. I started by telling him about what I do at the Connecticut After School Network, the Statewide Afterschool Networks, and the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship. After speaking with my colleague and acknowledging the important role after school has in kids lives, the President sat down for a bowl of chili and spicy Korean beef sandwich. My colleague and I tried to maintain our focus on what we were meeting about with great difficulty, after all we were about three feet from the President of the United States, surrounded by secret service agents.

            During the course of lunch, Governor Dannel Malloy stopped at our table as well. He and I had spoken last year, but had met in 2012 when he gave lunch remarks at the annual Childhood Conversations Conference (which the Network is a partner). I shared information with him about the upcoming conference and again reiterated the work that we do statewide as one of the Mott-funded After School Networks. Likewise, we had a chance to speak briefly with Governor Peter Shumlin about his Statewide Network in Vermont and the exciting work going on there. He was familiar with the Vermont Network and the Network Lead Holly Morehouse.

           When they had finished lunch, the President took final photos with us and walked out to cheering crowds and media on the streets of New Britain. They were off to Central Connecticut State University for an event highlighting the importance of raising the minimum wage. I was off to the YWCA New Britain for my afternoon meeting thinking how grateful I was to have an elevator speech at hand about the role of the Statewide Networks, the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship, and the impact and importance after school has on children, families, learning, and student achievement.