Does education ever stop? Educational attainment is much more than academic achievement alone and developing a lifelong love of learning sets the foundation for curiosity, wonder and amazement to flourish in our hearts and minds well past our impressionable childhood years.

Just this past month, I had the incredible pleasure to listen and learn from a variety of well-respected individuals—some of whom are world leaders and others who are experts in their chosen craft. The wisdom that flowed from these accomplished individuals provided an inspiring compass for me in my role as the Executive Director of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. They each shared their stories with humility, authenticity and passion, and it reinforced for me the awesome responsibility we have as a community to ensure our children—each and every one of them—is given the opportunity to develop his/her own love of learning. 

Good Morning America television anchor Robin Roberts spoke at a recent Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Series. With her powerful gift of public speaking and grounded personality, Robin spoke with ease and fluidity as she described life experiences that taught her valuable lessons. “Get outside of yourself,” she declared. “Make your mess your message and remember when fear knocks, faith answers the door.” I could feel myself quietly cheering for her as she recounted the immeasurable odds of overcoming circumstances that statisticians would believe to be insurmountable. Inspiring?  Indeed.

I next found myself in a sea with 4,000 professional colleagues throughout the country as we listened to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan set the framework by stating “It all begins with WE, the people.” As I heard his words, I reflected on a book I’m currently reading called Boundary Spanning Leadership and quickly realized I had a lot to learn about breaking barriers and dissolving boundaries from this leader.  It is not about us versus them with this man as he then continued, “the way to expand capacity is to extend partnerships—if you wish to go quickly, go alone. If you wish to go far, go together.” His words flowed like honey as he also reminded us that “leaders should understand words have power and they should always be aware of this.” As the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize winner, I knew he walked a journey of a thousand miles in pursuit of peace and respect for human rights, and it was evident that his magnanimous accomplishments were teachable moments for me. Mark Brewer, president of the Central Florida Foundation, served as the keynote speaker at a recent SB2 program. Accompanied by a panel of local philanthropic experts, Mark challenged our current view of nonprofits and prodded us to re-define nonprofits as the independent sector. With this re-thinking, Mark persuasively made a strong case for us in the “independent sector” to find creative and innovative ways to solve problems using risk capital, not simply donations. We need to “fail our way to success” as a dramatic shift is now occurring in how people get together to solve problems. In short, collective impact is here to stay.The final compelling speaker was Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute and author of over 40 books including Mind in the Making (which I’m now reading!). Ellen was a keynote speaker for the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and, thanks to The Patterson Foundation, I was able to have a seat at the luncheon to hear her imbue her expert knowledge to this eager crowd.  Ellen’s comments struck a chord with me as she emphasized “it is never too late to learn, you already have what it takes, and learning involves social, emotional and cognitive elements.”  Moreover, as she stated that “20 percent of learning occurs in schools and 80% occurs elsewhere,” it reinforced the powerful notion for us at the Education Foundation to help provide opportunities for our students to develop a lifelong love of learning whether it occurs in the classroom or out.

As I listened to the collective wisdom of these incredible people, I was reminded that education is indeed a continual process. Developing a lifelong love of learning is a noble pursuit that puts curiosity, wonder and amazement right at the forefront. I personally learned valuable lessons from these leaders which served as an awesome reinforcement of our commitment at the Education Foundation of Sarasota County to continuously provide impressionable, teachable moments for our children.