Unfortunately, the Conference has come to an end and the time has come to reflect on the day’s events and digest the many lessons offered by our illustrious presenters and speakers. I, for one, feel incredibly honored and humbled to have been given this wonderful opportunity to listen and learn from the great thinkers and practitioners of the intercultural relations field. I must thank the Institute and the event’s organizers for putting on such an excellent conference and for bringing together such a remarkably diverse group of people.

Although all of the workshops that I attended were extremely informative, I found two to be particularly insightful and relevant to my individual interests. The first was Ray Leki’s presentation of the dire situation in the Mexican border towns where drugs and extreme violence have decimated the local population and forced those who are not killed to psychologically retreat far into themselves simply to survive the constant emotional and physical onslaught caused by the endemic violence. Mr. Leki’s passion and intensity were truly inspiring and I hope that he will continue to reach out to these types of communities and coax them from their protective shells. The world needs people who can feel and talk and empathize and listen and show compassion.

The second workshop that I especially enjoyed today was delivered by former Peace Corps Volunteer, Chad Ryerson. He spoke about his experience setting up an entrepreneurial recycling venture in Honduras and the intercultural challenges of that endeavor. From a development perspective, his project seemed to be a perfect example of sustainable, bottom-up, local development that yields tangible results and positively affects a variety of constituencies within the local population. Not only that, but Mr. Ryerson’s recycling venture provided a valuable public service that satisfies a growing demand.

I really can’t thank the Institute and the presenters enough for providing this illuminating series of workshops. To Professor Ahmed and Ms. Logan, thank you for the inspiring and insightful messages that you so eloquently delivered. To Mary Margaret Herman and the rest of the organizers and volunteers, thank you for your diligence and patience both in the weeks and months leading up to the conference and throughout the two day event. And finally, I would like to extend a special thank you to all those at IMI who support his annual event and bring all these incredible people together, allowing them to connect and appreciate each other’s work and feed off each other’s passion. I can’t wait until next year!