Rachel Langenhorst

Another very busy day at @asugsvsummit collaborating, learning, and reimagining the future of education. There are conferences… and then there are those two days where your brain is buzzing, your notes are chaos, and you keep thinking, “This. This is why I love this work.”

ASU+GSV, you never disappoint.

Two days in and here’s what’s already hitting:

The conversations are sharper.
The urgency is real.
And the gap between what could be happening for kids and what is happening feels both smaller and more solvable when you’re in rooms like these.

I’ve sat in sessions where people stopped speaking in buzzwords and started speaking in truth. About systems that aren’t working. About students who are still being missed. About what it actually takes to move from intention to impact.

And then there are the hallway conversations.
You know the ones. The unplanned, unscripted, “tell me what you’re actually seeing” kind. Those are where the real magic lives.

What I’m loving most so far:

• The shift from tools to outcomes
• The focus on foundational skills as the starting point, not the afterthought
• The people who are brave enough to say, “We have to do this differently” and actually mean it
• Investors and philanthropists (Wow-Goldie Hawn is doing some amazing work!) putting their money behind things that matter

Also… can we talk about the energy? It’s electric in the best way. Not performative. Not surface-level. It feels like people are here to do something.

And personally, getting to connect, laugh, learn, and be in this space with people who care deeply about kids and educators…That part never gets old.

We’re two days in, and I already have a page full of ideas I can’t wait to bring back.

Because this work matters. And rooms like this remind me exactly why.