Thursday, March 20, 2025
The 2025 Leadership Summit
The SECA Leadership Summit is a one-day event held on Thursday, March 20, 2025. Educators from across the country will visit various off-site early childhood centers and end with an afternoon discussion. Please note that this event is partially off-site meaning you will not be able to attend any workshop sessions from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm during the SECA conference. Leadership Summit will begin with tours that will leave at 9:00 am and conclude around 1:00 pm. Upon returning to the conference site, participants will conclude the day with an afternoon tea and table discussions about effective leadership with an amazing group of SECA FOSSILS. Space is limited, so please register early.
Journey Through the Night Sky: A 360° Exploration in the Starlab
Featured Session by Katie Tonore
(Additional fee required - proceeds go to support the SECA Student Event)
Join us for an innovative exploration of literacy development using the StarLab Planetarium. This presentation will delve into how immersive experiences under the stars can captivate students' imaginations and enhance reading and storytelling skills. By combining astronomy with storytelling and creative writing activities, we'll demonstrate practical strategies for engaging students of all ages in literacy learning. Whether you're an educator looking for new approaches or simply curious about the intersection of science and language arts, this session will offer valuable insights in how to do that.
Friday, March 21, 2025
Friday Keynote Speaker
The Healing Power of Play and Optimism
Steve Gross
The Healing Power of Play and Optimism
Optimism is powerful. When human beings strengthen their ability to see and focus on the goodness and value in themselves, others, and the world around them, their social, emotional and cognitive superpowers emerge. Optimism, however, is fragile. Chronic stress, fear and overwhelming adversity can weaken and destroy our capacity for optimism. This inspiring presentation by Steve Gross, helps Early Childhood Professionals discover the power of optimism to create safe, loving, joyful, and engaging environments where kids can heal, grow and thrive. Using research, humor and personal stories from 30+ years of work with kids and their caretakers Steve will share how practicing optimism can bring out the best in ourselves, our colleagues and our children.
​Meet Steve Gross
In the late 1980s, Steve Gross, MSW, began running playgroups for homeless children in Greater Boston. His only goal was to help our most vulnerable kids.
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His focus on play, joy, relationships, and environment caught the attention of trauma response experts. By the early 90s, Steve was called upon to lead widespread healing efforts for communities impacted by war, natural disaster, gun violence, poverty, addiction, and illness.
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Following his field experience, Steve and a trusted team of researchers and colleagues developed the Life is Good Playmaker Project - a series of transformative workshops, retreats, and tools that serve more than 16,000 Early Childhood professionals and help more than 1 million kids overcome trauma every year.
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Today, Steve inspires audiences with true stories of how optimism can be harnessed to overcome adversity, and how early childhood educators can cultivate a more optimistic disposition to insulate children against toxic stress and create life-changing relationships to help them heal, learn and grow.
Just for Students Breakfast
Students Start YOUR Engine!!
Lisa Maddox Vinson
(Student registration Required)
Students, get ready to join us for breakfast and dive into a morning of interactive STEM learning. STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, is an educational approach that combines these four areas of study. It's student-centered and interdisciplinary, encouraging you to develop problem-solving skills. We have prepared hands-on activities to engage you and prepare your engine for the day. We are looking forward to seeing you there! And don't forget, we have some exciting giveaways you won't want to miss!
Friday Luncheon Speaker
Your Voice Matters
Dr. Nneka Ibekwe-Okafor
(additional registration fee)
Virtual Reality: A New Frontier for Cultivating Racial Empathy in Early Childhood
Our current, highly charged racial tensions, underscore the urgent need to deepen our understanding of how to challenge racial biases and foster racial empathy. Early childhood is a critical time for cultivating racial empathy because children’s foundational social and emotional skills develop during these formative years, shaping their attitudes and behaviors towards others. Fostering racial empathy at this stage helps cultivate inclusive mindsets, reduce prejudice, and create a sense of belonging that can last a lifetime. Dr. Ibekwe-Okafor, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, will share insights about her research to measure, evaluate, and foster racial empathy in early childhood through the use of virtual reality.
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Meet Dr. Ibekwe-Okafor
Dr. Nneka Ibekwe-Okafor is an Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies, Education and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research sits at the intersection of developmental science, early childhood education, and social policy. She investigates the social and environmental determinants of Black children’s early development by examining how poverty, racial discrimination, structural inequalities, and educational inequities influence access to quality early care and education and the academic, emotional, and social development of Black children from birth to age eight.
Her research has a particular focus on identifying protective factors across various ecological levels in efforts to promote the optimal developmental outcomes of Black children. Her goal is to inform social policies and practitioner-led interventions through the science of human development. Her work has been published in leading journals, including the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, Child Development, Child Development Perspectives, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Social Issues, and Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
As the Principal Investigator of a multi-year grant (funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation “Fostering Racial Empathy and Anti-Racist Practices in Early Care and Education”) she is working alongside state agencies to embed racial equity in state early care and education policies, and she is conducting research to develop an understanding of how to measure, evaluate, and foster racial empathy among young children. Dr. Ibekwe-Okafor received a Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methods from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, an Ed.M. from Harvard University in Prevention Science Research, and a M.S.W. from Columbia University. In her undergraduate studies, she majored in African American Studies and Sociology and was a NCAA Division I volleyball player at the University of California, Davis.