Community Building
LIGHT Awards Cohort 12 – Convening 2025 – Indian Springs, Calistoga
In July 2025, the Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation hosted its twelfth annual Awardee Convening honoring recent recipients of the LIGHT Awards grant. Awardees from the twelfth cohort were invited to this event, which seeks to honor educators and cultivate connections within and across LIGHT teams, as well as energize the participants and prepare them to launch their projects. An enthusiastic group of 40 teachers representing 11 projects attended this 2-day meeting at Indian Springs Resort in Calistoga, along with the Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation team.
Convening 2025 attendees said:
How incredibly valued you made us and our work feel. So rarely are we celebrated as educators and I felt all the love today.
I appreciated the wonderful balance between rest / rejuvenation and team work to launch our projects. I also appreciated talking to and asking questions of the alumni.
…the enthusiasm of an inspiring group of educators. I feel like we have a network of people behind us!
This year, sixteen LIGHT Award alumni, representing twelve projects, also attended, sharing their insights and milestones. How exciting it was to have over sixty of us in the room, including the Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation team and President and Founder, Karen Leshner.
LIGHT Awards Alumni and Intrepid Philanthropy Foundation team – Convening 2025 – Indian Springs, Calistoga
The Convening is like nothing I have experienced as a teacher. I love that everyone has their own goals and are allowed to be imperfect and human as they are trusted to do good work.
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I really appreciated the structure of allowing alumni to support and coach new grantees with their projects.
LIGHT Alumni Design Challenge and Project Journey Mapping
Facilitated by Paula Mitchell, LIGHT Awards alumni reflected on and shared learnings from their past projects, identifying successes and struggles:
I was curious about what I might contribute and gain from returning. I also knew that the time together would be affirming for educators.
Being in the same space as educators who WANT to be together smack dab in the middle of summer is truly a treat.
LIGHT Alumni Prepare to Support Cohort 12 Teams
Appreciation from Cohort 12 Team Members:
I appreciated the time that was put into the planning of this convening. I also really appreciated all the advice and knowledge learned from the alumni LIGHT Awards participants.
There is so much I appreciated from this convening. The respect you have for us as educators is noticeable. The thought partner process we engaged in with alumni.
LIGHT Award Alumni Panel
LIGHT Award Alumni Juli Chang (Pioneer ES, Davis), Deanna Slaton (Bancroft MS, San Leandro) and Lisa Wong (San Leandro HS) share highlights from their LIGHT Award projects and answer Cohort 12 team members’ questions.
Cohort 12 Team Members Introduce Their Projects
Using individualized project visioning posters created by Rosi Greenberg as a touchstone, team members introduce their projects through song.
Team Building
Intrepid Advisory Board Members Jen Bloom, Jenny Maehara, Paula Mitchell, and Taica Hsu and Community Coordinator Pirette McKamey facilitated sessions for the educators, providing space to connect and share their project goals and dreams. For example, Jen led a thought-provoking session on Core Values, tying this conversation to how these values reflect in their team and larger work, and Jenny shared a Talent Mapping activity to help teams discover individual strengths and talents and how this knowledge might apply to team dynamics. Teams worked together to plan for a productive start to their projects in the fall.
The Power of Play
Led by Alumni Erin Head (Paden ES, Alameda) and Michael Kramer Wong (Paden ES, Alameda), whose Power of Play project inspired belonging, agency and competence in students, cohort 12 team members engaged in play activities of their choice!
Enjoying Time Together
