Earlier this month nearly 200 partners gathered in Wenatchee, Washington, for the Limitless Learning Network fall convening. The Network brings together 26 regional partnerships of practitioners and programs across Washington state that support student transitions from high school to postsecondary education. Over two days, convening participants explored how to use data, reflection, and shared learning to design and lead with their communities, not for them.

The convening theme—Rooted in Place, Growing Together—captured one of the Network’s core guiding principles: Systems change happens when people are deeply connected to the places they serve and to one another. The surrounding mountains, rivers, and orchards of North Central Washington were more than a backdrop to the convening; they reminded us what this work is really about: community, connection, and growth.

Place Is a Practice, Not Just a Location

Throughout the convening, “place” emerged as both a setting and a strategy. Participants reflected on how geography and community shape their work to increase postsecondary enrollment and improve transitions from high school to college, especially for students facing the highest barriers, including Black, Latino, and Native students and students from low-income and rural communities.

The North Central Washington setting made these ideas tangible. We heard from local leaders who shared stories of collaboration rooted in community context. In a fireside chat, Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy of Big Bend Community College, Dr. Nik Bergman of Quincy School District, and Alfonso López of Wenatchee School District shared how the region’s deep sense of community shapes their approach to supporting students’ transitions beyond high school. Through authentic family and community engagement, educational leaders are building trust and supporting communities to equitably access opportunities to thrive. They described how collaboration, not competition, has become a hallmark of North Central Washington’s educational ecosystem and how partnership capacity is driving real system change.

Our location was a living example of the convening theme: Local context is not a barrier to statewide progress; it is the engine that drives it. Each story affirmed that context matters. Authentic and continuous relationships, knowing student and family needs, community resources, experiences, and unique stories all contribute to this deep sense of community and collaboration. Place is not only where we work but also how we work.

Local context is not a barrier to statewide progress; it is the engine that drives it.

Deepening Capacity Through Three Shared Priorities

The convening is built on the Network’s three learning priorities: partnership capacity, data capacity, and strategies to increase postsecondary enrollment, including dual enrollment, quality advising, and financial aid.

Breakout sessions modeled what it means to co-create solutions across sectors. Participants explored how partnerships can build shared infrastructure for advising, use data to illuminate inequities, and align around common goals. Partnerships had an opportunity to share a problem of practice or a promising practice with another partnership to deepen collaboration and shared learning across regions.

As stewards of the Limitless Learning Network, Education Northwest creates the conditions for this kind of shared learning: spaces that are relational, reflective, and grounded in community expertise. In this third year of Limitless, we are fostering peer-to-peer learning opportunities. During the convening several partnerships led sessions on their own regionally based emerging practices.

When Data Becomes Human

The convening reinforced that data becomes powerful when it is humanized. During a full-group data activity co-facilitated by Sankofa Consulting and Education Northwest, partnerships practiced making meaning of local datasets on FAFSA completion rates. This led to conversations about why the numbers look the way they do.

We saw how a family’s experience navigating financial aid, or a student’s sense of belonging and connection at their school, gives meaning to the data points we track. When paired with stories, data becomes more than an accountability metric. Combining data and story is how the Network strengthens capacity: We use data to measure progress and interpret it through the lens of lived experience. Data helps us see patterns; stories remind us why those patterns matter.

Centering Student Voice and Cultural Wealth

A highlight of the convening was the panel featuring students from Chelan, Manson, and Quincy school districts. Their stories about balancing family responsibilities, navigating first-generation challenges, and finding belonging grounded the conversation in lived experience. Students discussed the strengths they draw from their rural backgrounds and how they think about leaving their communities to pursue opportunities while staying deeply connected to their families and hometowns.

Using the Community Cultural Wealth framework, participants reflected on the assets students bring to their postsecondary journeys, such as familial networks, resilience, and community pride. Student voice underscored a core Limitless value: Students are not just the focus of our work; they are co-designers of equitable educational systems.

Students are not just the focus of our work; they are co-designers of equitable educational systems.

Celebrating Regional Innovation

Participants had the opportunity to connect with the broader North Central Washington community through the NCW Tech Alliance’s Innovator Awards, which took place on the same day as the convening. The event involved two Limitless partnerships and celebrated local students, educators, mentors, and entrepreneurs whose creativity and resilience are shaping the region’s future. The ceremony was a powerful reminder that educational innovation and economic vitality are deeply intertwined and that investing in local talent strengthens schools and communities.

Reflection as a Design Practice

Reflection is a key design principle of the Limitless Learning Network. It allows growth to take root and turns individual learning into collective progress. We closed each day of the convening with guided reflection, including questions like:

• What connection today helped you see your work in a new way?
• How will you nurture that connection tomorrow?

These questions encouraged participants to link insight to action. Some partnerships left inspired to pilot new advising approaches or co-design family academies. Others planned to begin using data in more strategic ways.

Growing Together Across Washington

The Wenatchee convening reminded us what is possible when we combine local innovation and statewide collaboration. As the Limitless Learning Network enters its third year, we are seeing stronger partnerships; improved capacity to use data; and deeper alignment between schools, colleges, communities, workforce, and career opportunities.

Education Northwest extends its gratitude to the local host committee and partners in North Central Washington for their leadership in grounding this convening in place. We also thank every participant who shared their experience, insight, and hope for the future. Together, we showed that when we root ourselves in place, we grow stronger together.

Visit the Limitless Learning Network page to learn more about how partnerships across Washington are increasing postsecondary success.

Leanne Davis is a managing researcher focused on postsecondary access and success. She works at the intersection of research, policy, and practice, with an emphasis on addressing issues of access and equity during transitions in the educational pipeline and exploring how policies and practices help or hinder a student’s ability to complete a postsecondary credential.