Finding Community within the Worry: Reflections from the 2025 KATE Conference

As we look ahead to the 2026 KATE Conference, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the impact of the 2025 gathering. The KATE Conference continues to be a powerful space for emerging educators to discover their voices and engage with the profession during a time of growth, change, and inspiration.

We invite you to read this thoughtful reflection by Alice Huelskamp, a pre-service teacher at Wichita State. To learn more about registering for the 2026 conference or submitting a presentation proposal, visit our homepage at kansasenglish.org.


The descriptor ‘teaching conference’ doesn’t exactly draw up the most exciting image. For me, in the weeks leading up to the 2025 KATE Conference, the name mostly brought me a lot of worry. I’m still just a student myself, and I felt quite a bit like I didn’t really belong at a two-day event designed specifically for teachers. It was hard to imagine how I could have a role at this metaphorical table. I struggled to understand how my perspective could fit into the mix. By the end of the conference, though, I could imagine the kind of seat I might have.

Across both days, many of the sessions provided perspectives that helped me feel more motivated and prepared to teach than I was beforehand. The opening session with Dr. Latasha Eley Kelly, owner of the Left on Read bookstore, gave a lot of insight into the ways people find their paths into education. Dr. Kelly didn’t first start out her adult life by running her bookstore; it took her time and many other steps to find this particular pathway into supporting education in her community. No matter how and when she came to this point, the only thing that matters is that she is supporting education in the most authentic way to herself now. That opening keynote session immediately set up the rest of the conference, and made it clear that everyone in that room might have their own unique path, but they all lead to one place--education.
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