This year I’ve had multiple opportunities to travel and commune with like-minded individuals both locally and nationally. Over the summer I was fortunate enough to experience the Charlottesville Civil Rights Tour—a guided tour through sites with historical or modern significance to the Civil Rights movement located in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The experience was emotional, educational, and deeply impactful. I met teachers, administrators, high school students, and various other professionals from Charlottesville and the surrounding communities. We were all there to learn more about past and present struggles for racial justice in hopes that it would inform and inspire our work in our own community. 

In addition, I was given the opportunity to also attend the annual National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota this year. This was NWSA’s first in-person conference since 2019, and I was ecstatic to be once-again surrounded by so many feminists, activists, and scholars. Although I am currently a doctoral student in higher education, my bachelors and master’s degrees are in women’s studies, and I still consider it to be my “home discipline.” The knowledge I gained from women’s studies continues to inform my work, research, and life. NWSA is also the official professional organization for women’s centers, so the conference is nourishing to me as both a scholar and staff administrator. 

Both of these experiences were marked for me by the gift of community. Experiencing the Civil Rights Tour in the company of so many other interesting and diverse folks from my own community was unique. We mourned together and laughed together, we comforted each other and talked together about the different ways we would take what we learned back to our roles in our shared community. The same was true for my experience at NWSA. Although we were from all over the country (and in some cases, the world), we were all there because we care about our students and making the world a better place for them. Sharing with each other the challenges of our respective roles, we found comfort in the knowing nods and similar stories of peers. In addition to making space for discussing the difficult topics, both experiences also made space for hope. Hope which each of us could take back to our communities and careers as we continue to fight for a future that is just. 

Each of us needs community, especially right now after the devastating losses of Lavel Davis, Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry. Our community gives us a safe and supportive space to feel our feelings, whatever they may be, and to lean on and learn from each other. And our community is what can give us the hope that keeps us moving forward during difficult times, or the comfort to rest when we need to take a break. As the semester winds down and folks finish up their classes and exams and start looking forward to winter break, I hope that each of you can spend some time with your own chosen communities to nourish your soul and inspire you to keep going. 

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Sarah Jenkins coordinates our Young Women Leaders Program and teaches the courses for our YWLP mentoring group facilitators.