CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — As the 2026-27 school year begins, more than 100 educators from over 30 North Carolina counties and four different states filed into The Friday Center at UNC-Chapel Hill for two days of professional learning that reconnected them with their passion for teaching. 

The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership’s inaugural Reigniting Teacher Passion conference on Aug. 3-4 featured concurrent sessions, Byte-Sized PD, Kenan Fellow Flows (TED-style presentations), a tech playground, a free resource fair, and site visits to some of the state’s leading industries. Every aspect of the conference was designed to send teachers into the new school year with renewed energy.

Reigniting Teacher Passion aimed to make every attendee feel valued, celebrated and respected. The conference also celebrated the Kenan Fellows Program’s 25th anniversary.

“Twenty-five years ago, eight Fellows from Wake, Durham, and Orange counties stepped into their immersion experiences with a program in its infancy. Little did they know what would grow from their pilot cohort,” Program Director Vance Kite said in his opening remarks. “We are all inheritors of their legacy and each of us has the responsibility to engage as co-creators of the next 25 years of the Kenan Fellows Program.”

Kite stated the conference was built around the same values the Kenan Fellows Program was built on. Values like teacher professionalism, intentionality, local knowledge, and co-creation. And it followed the program’s rules for good professional development: use the expertise already in the room, no “sit-and-get,” and the rule of mobility, which permits attendees to leave any session that is not serving them.

“Our team, in particular [program manager] Carrie Horton, set themselves the goal of creating a conference unlike any other.” — Vance Kite, director

Sessions led by teachers for teachers

Day one opened with a Professional Share Fair that gave teachers a chance to browse resources from North Carolina Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom, The Science House, the N.C. State College of Education, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the North Carolina Children’s Museum mobile unit, the EARth Center, the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, the American Exchange Project, and N.C. State Libraries METRC. The conference itself was made possible in part by Ag in the Classroom, the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science, and Teaching Fellows at NC State.

The day continued with a series of concurrent sessions organized across six strands: leadership development, innovation and engagement, inclusion and equity, connecting to industry, education advocacy, and resiliency. Each session was led by teachers presenting tools and strategies they use in their own work. Kenan Fellow alumnus Casey Schulte of Beaufort County Schools drew a crowd with “Defying Gravity: Wicked Engagement Strategies for Your Classroom.” While alumnus Jennifer Taylor of Henderson County Schools walked teachers through “Connecting Classrooms to Careers.” 

See a full list of sessions on our agenda website.

Ann Kelly, an eighth-grade science teacher in Carteret County and a 2024-25 Kenan Fellow, presented “Ready, Set, Resilience,” along with Rob Condie, who also teaches in Carteret County Schools. Ready, Set, Resilience uses fables and lessons from nature to build resilience in students, classrooms and communities.

“The Kenan Fellows Reigniting Teacher Passion Conference in Chapel Hill this week sparked magic!” Kelly shared on her Instagram account afterward. “For two days, teachers from across the state gathered together to share their expertise, create connections and community, ignite inspiration, celebrate resilience, and find joy in our calling as public school educators. I was proud to be a participant, presenter, and volunteer. Sharing this experience with the best educators I know, making new friends, and reconnecting with the Kenan Fellows crew filled my heart! Key takeaways that I will carry into my 20th year in the classroom: ❤️ Teachers Lead Communities!”

The Spark Session: Keynote Panel

A keynote panel discussion, moderated by Deb Mangum, the Kenan Fellows Program’s founding director, brought the conference’s theme to the main stage. The panel featured Fellows representing teachers from the mountains to the coast: Rebekah Morse of Polk County Schools, Anita Rubino-Thomas of Currituck County Schools, Elijah Watson of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and Al Donaldson, a 2019-20 Kenan Fellow who now serves on the Kenan Fellows Program’s Board of Advisors and teaches English in Durham Public Schools. Donaldson told the audience that collaboration between teachers is what keeps schools places where every student has room to explore.

“How do we elevate the sacred value of learning?” he asked the audience, adding that the only remedy he has seen for the pressures facing schools today is educators combining their efforts and doing the hard work together. 

He urged the teachers in the room to turn toward their colleagues rather than working in isolation, closing with a line that resonated with much of the room: “My hope for all of us is that we find those flames that ignite the spark that nourishes the passion that helps us to challenge our communities and to inspire our students.”

Morse reflected on the invitation to share her story from the panel stage, saying the Kenan Fellows Program has encouraged her and given new life to her work as a teacher.

“Long before I was an educator, Kenan was doing the work and planting the marigold seeds of faith, believing educators are valued and important and worth more than others say,” Morse said. “I’ve never felt anything but heard and valued with Kenan. I am truly grateful.”

Beyond the classroom walls

The morning of day two sent teachers into the industries their students may eventually join. Site visits took attendees to Biogen, the Durham Public Schools Hub Farm, Labcorp, the NC State Agroecology Education Farm, the N.C. Plant Sciences Institute, Mertek Solutions, and Novonesis. Each of the site visits focused on connecting classrooms to career pathways for students.

Taylor Wright Apple, a 2017-18 Kenan Fellow who teaches agriculture, called the entire event an incredible experience.  “Both days were packed with lots of great sessions, great presenters and a cool industry tour,” she posted on Instagram.

Following the site visits, attendees returned to the Friday Center where they listened to a series of Kenan Fellows Flows. The series gave seven teachers a stage for 10-to-15-minute TED Talk-style stories about their own leadership journeys. 

‘Learn, Lead, Love’

Eric Eaton, a 2023-24 Kenan Fellow and a Polk County Schools middle teacher with more than three decades in the classroom, spoke on “Learn, Lead, and Love — My Kenan Fellows Journey.” He described how the fellowship rekindled his spark and encouraged fellow veteran teachers to find new leadership opportunities and a renewed sense of purpose.

“I am humbled, yet proud to be in the room with such passionate professionals from across North Carolina.” — Eric Eaton

“I am humbled, yet proud to be in the room with such passionate professionals from across North Carolina,” Eaton wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Powerful stories of the difference teachers are making across our state abound. The atmosphere is electric.”

By the close of the conference, the goal Program Manager Carrie Horton set for the conference had played out across two days of sessions, site visits and shared stories. Whether attendees were joining the Kenan Fellows Program for the first time or returning as alumni, Horton had hoped they would feel the power of the network around them and head into the new school year re-energized, ready to bring what they experienced back to their schools and districts. 

“I thought back to the feeling I had as a fellow when I attended the Summer Institute … in the summer of 2012,” Horton recalled. “As an educator, it was the only time I ever felt like someone understood the job of an educator. The only time that professional development met my needs … and the only time I was treated like the professional that I know I am!”

Horton said she wanted other teachers to have that same experience. That was the impetus behind Reigniting Teacher Passion. She expressed, “[I] thought: every educator should get to experience this, even if it is just a small part of it for a few days.”