Like endless other groups across the country, the NRLI project team gathered on their respective phones from homes and offices: "Have you seen the predictions?" "The (7th) session in Quincy is next week and we've put a LOT of work into it". "What about the alumni Forestry event Wendy-Lin has been organizing for months?" "We are getting calls and e-mails; we need to make a decision." "If we cancel, can we actually hold a NRLI session on-line, we've never really done that before". "The whole point of NRLI and its pedagogy is to be face-to-face, we can't lose that." "Everything is changing so quickly". "Will the State and Federal agencies close?" "Some already have". "But are there travel bans?" "Quincy seems pretty safe". "Maybe, but there are going to be Fellows who have emergency responsibilities". "And people would be coming from all over the state, is that wise?". "My personal situation is getting increasingly complicated". Sighs and uncertainty, arguments for and against. Finally, a pained decision, consensus reached that suspending the session and alumni event were the right thing to do.

That conversation, which is circled in red on my calendar, took place less than a month ago, on Friday, March 13th. It seems like it occurred 100 years ago. I t felt momentous and difficult, somehow unique to NRLI. Oh, how the world has changed.

NRLI session 7 was held via Zoom. In living rooms, kitchens and home offices, not in Quincy. We covered Integrative Negotiation and the concept of Power, where it comes from and how it is expressed. The session was not perfect, but it worked. And we realized that it was as much about Class XIX checking in with each other and finding some normalcy as it was about the curriculum. As cliché as it sounds, it was about being together in the early days of quarantine and chaos.

The world HAS changed, but this week we will celebrate the accomplishments of Class XIX via the first ever on-line NRLI graduation ceremony. Class XIX is a remarkable group of people who, mere weeks ago, hugged and said "see you soon" as they left Session 6 in Sebring, Florida. They never imagined that only a month later "see you soon" would reference Zoom and FaceTime encounters. Moving NRLI on-line for session 7 and for this week's Graduation has required energy and creativity and I'd like to give a shout-out to Wendy-Lin Bartels, Joy Hazell, and Jocelyn Peskin for their remarkable efforts in making it happen with relative seamlessness. And thank you to the Fellows of Class XIX for their patience, dedication and enthusiasm as we navigate new waters. We are very excited about the graduation session and hope that NRLI alumni will join us this Friday from 3:00 -5:00 pm for the certificate ceremony.  

Graduation will be special this year, not because it is on-line but because it is happening in spite of the times in which we are living. We will be celebrating the hard work of a highly impressive group of professionals. Graduation is when NRLI Fellows join a network, a social and professional network that we will need more than ever when we emerge from quarantines and isolation. Collaborative problem solving will be a skill in high demand and as Thomas Pane wrote, "It is not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies". Please join us on Friday to celebrate Class XIX and to welcome them to the NRLI network.