Steps to Compassion

Christine Mason, CEI Founder and Senior Scholar

I’ve just returned from two weeks in Nepal, which included sessions with schools and yoga teachers, visits to temples and historic sites, and a three-day trek to the Panchase base camp. A journey of a lifetime – deeply inhaling Himalayan air as I gazed out over lush tropical vegetation with carefully manicured terraces – and continuing to climb higher and higher.

Cultivating Happiness in Nepal 

While I sought adventure, I was also there to learn and share about CEI’s Cultivating Happiness initiative. One of my takeaways was a deep sense of stillness and peace from this high-elevation experience, and even a profound sense of being blessed with this opportunity. (My utmost thanks to Lata Tulachan, my yogi connection who helped me to manifest 14 days in Nepal, this “land of the Gods.”) And, moreover, a realization that CEI’s five Cs (consciousness, compassion, courage, confidence, and community) were equally relevant to both my journey and also the Nepalese people.

Kathmandu, founded in 723, is one of the oldest cities with continual habitation in the world. With a population of 1.6 million, it is not only an art and economic center for Nepal, but also the governmental seat. Filled with temples and rich with cultural diversity, it is a maze of congested alleyways, with what can seem like more motorcycles than people. Interestingly, Balendra Shaha, the current mayor, has helped to clean up the city, and despite its age, Kathmandu is almost dust-free and far greener, with improved sanitation and waste management compared to the past (Poudel, 2023)...

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Transformative Leaders in Education

Meghan Wenzel, CEI Co-Editor

We are in a new era of rapid change and turmoil. Experts call this a VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous – world (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). Educators find themselves in a difficult spot, in the middle of mounting tensions and conflicting parties. Educators aim to prepare children for the future, but what will that future look like? Critical thinking, adaptability, resilience, creativity, lifelong learning, and digital and media literacy are key. 

To meet these lofty goals and prepare students to live meaningful, fulfilling lives and positively contribute to their communities, we need transformative leaders. Instead of incremental change, we have the opportunity to fundamentally rethink things – our systems, our processes, our goals – from the bottom up. As Drs. Rene Owen, CEI’s Associate Deputy Director Western Region and an Assistant Professor at Southern Oregon University, and Chris Mason remind us, transformation is different from improvement. “Improvement within our current systems will continue to give us more of the same results we already have, including more of the negative results” (Owen & Mason, in press).  

Transformational leaders inspire and guide people and organizations to achieve significant change, often by challenging the status quo, setting a compelling vision, fostering collaboration, and empowering others to take action...

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Homelessness and Learning: How to Support and Identify Students

Hallie Williams, CEI Research Assistant

Although overused, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides an essential truth: basic needs must be met before higher-level ones can (Maslow & Lewis, 1987). Students experiencing homelessness or unsteady housing must satisfy their basic physiological needs before they can learn and grow effectively at school.



Public schools reported 1.2 million PreK-12 students were experiencing homelessness during the 2021-2022 school year, a 10% increase over the previous year (SchoolHouse Connection, 2024) and roughly 2.5% of all public-school students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024).

Identifying student homelessness is challenging because it can be difficult for these students to enroll in and attend school. Issues with detection muddle efforts by local, state, and federal education authorities to support these students. Conservative estimates suggest at least 34% of student homelessness goes undetected (Thompson, 2024), so the actual number may be closer to 2.5 to 3 million or 5% of public-school students (Bassuk et al., 2014).

In 2023, the number of families staying in homeless shelters or visibly unsheltered increased by 16%, while the number of unaccompanied youths staying in homeless shelters or visibly unsheltered increased by 15% (SchoolHouse Connection, 2024)...

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