This is a guest post written by Ryan Hiltner, ITS at Sartell High School. Do you need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in professional development?  Apply today!

The Impact Education Conference is a great opportunity to not only learn new things but to network with other professionals at a variety of different levels.

This year I tried to focus on that networking part. I spent time talking with other Technology Integrationist from different districts throughout the state. I also had the chance to talk with teachers and principals from different schools to get a variety of perspectives on how technology is being used in their schools. I really enjoy this network piece as it helps with questions that I have at the time but also gives me a network to fall back on later in the year.

This year I went to some sessions by leaders from different parts of the country. These people are well known in education and have a large presence on social media and have produced books.

One of the sessions dealt with creating an entrepreneurial course in school. We are starting to look at producing and creating items for people in the general public in a few areas in Sartell and this session was great to get more background knowledge.

The conference also gave out books from different educators this year and I am excited to dig into mine soon.

I am grateful for the opportunity to attend this conference! Thanks to CMLE for allowing me to go and connect with other passionate educators and better my practice!