Angelus News | July 29, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 15

inequity.
The opportunity now, Hernandez
said, is to sustain the growth seen over
the past few years, especially in archdiocesan
schools which have increased
enrollment by 3.5% nationally, and
apply those lessons to other areas.
“We really want to identify things
that worked, that were good, that were
efficient,” he said
“Maybe there were some good benefits
to what we learned for these three
years,” he added. “The exposure to the
new resources and tools that we had
to start using — maybe that’s a good
thing. It helps us move in a different direction
than we were three years ago.”
That is the core focus of this year’s
conference, which will include
continued training on the basics of
online tools like Zoom as well as
newly emerging apps and electronics.
Registrants have had online access
to a host of on-demand and live web
courses through an online platform
since July 1, one way that the conference
is embracing its theme, “Flipping
the Switch.”
Amy J. Cattapan, Ph.D., an
award-winning writer and educator,
will be presenting in person after
leading a session during the 2021
virtual conference. She compared the
hybrid event model as following recent
schooling trends.
“Many of the presentations will
discuss how teachers can ‘flip’ their
classrooms,” she said, “where teachers
provide students with a video to watch
or a passage to read at home, and then
class time is reserved for practicing
under a teacher’s guidance.”
But “flipping” the classroom goes
beyond just providing a virtual and
in-person meeting space, according to
Cattapan.
“Many teachers have been through
a very dark period recently,” she
said. “The pandemic has drained us
physically, intellectually, and emotionally.
We’re looking for the light of
inspiration to be turned back on so that
we can head back into our classrooms
with new ideas, energy, and enthusiasm.”
“We often talk about the ‘light of
Christ’s love for us,” Lisa Henley,
an author and speaker who will also
present at this year’s conference, said
Staff at Homeboy Electronics Recycling. | HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES
in agreement. “I know that for me to
share this light with others, I have to
activate my own spiritual journey …
before we can help someone else flip a
switch, we need to bring light into our
own lives.”
Though not the original intention of
the conference, Hernandez acknowledged
that mental health and well-being
has quickly become a prominent
focus for this C3 Conference.
“It’s definitely the time to understand,
‘Hey, it’s OK to turn off every once in
a while.’ You can be the light, but you
don’t have to have it on 24/7, 365,” he
said.
The C3 Conference will also serve as
the launch of a new partnership with
Homeboy Electronics Recycling, a part
of the gang rehabilitation and re-entry
program Homeboy Industries, in the
face of a new challenge facing Catholic
institutions: e-waste.
“It just happens because things age
out,” Hernandez said. “Whether it’s a
new phone system or internet router
or wiring, old printers, laptops, it kind
of accumulates. We were looking to
figure out the best possible opportunity
to recycle all of that.”
Through the partnership, Homeboy
Electronics Recycling will offer pickup
services of e-waste for Catholic
institutions.
“It’s a win-win situation. They have
more items so that they can continue
to train with their mission, and it helps
us because all of our locations end up
eliminating all the waste and we have
more space,” Hernandez said.
In recognition of the new partnership,
Father Greg Boyle, SJ, founder
of Homeboy Industries, will offer an
opening keynote address.
“When we get together on Aug. 2 in
person, that is really our celebration,”
Hernandez said. “That we are still
here. That our ministries are still there
… and that we’re stronger than we
were even three years ago.”
Evan Holguin is a graduate of the
University of Notre Dame. Originally
from Santa Clarita, he now lives in
New Haven, Connecticut. His work has
been featured on the website Aleteia.
com and on Ultramontane: A Catholic
News Podcast.
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