Encuentra: Explorations of Culture and Calling
Dates: February 25–27, 2027
Join us in the heart of California's Central Valley at Fresno Pacific University for Encuentra, a NetVUE regional gathering highlighting NetVUE's new Encuentra conversation card deck.
We will dive deeper into the role culture plays in understanding one's vocational calling while celebrating the Latine culture honored through the Encuentra deck.
“Our cultural roots - family, community, food, geography, language, rituals, faith, and more – powerfully shape who we are, how we engage the world, and what is possible for each of us. In turn, the cultures from which we come and within which we move influence our discernment of purpose and calling and our sense of belonging.”
(NetVUE Encuentra Conversation Cards - Council of Independent Colleges)
Purpose
Celebrating NetVUE’s new resource Encuentra: Conversation Cards on Calling, Career and a Life Well-Lived, this regional gathering explores and celebrates the role of culture in human experience and understanding of the world and one’s calling.
Participant experience of the food, music, dance, art and language of the diverse Hispanic, Latine, Latin American and U.S. Latine cultures in Fresno and the surrounding communities frames sessions exploring the origin and unique contribution of these conversation cards, and how culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy can help foster vocational exploration and discernment. Breakout sessions led by experienced practitioners provide ample opportunity for hands-on practice, reflection and discussion centered on the conversation cards.
Fresno Pacific and its surrounding community are uniquely positioned for this event, with 63.8% of the university’s student population and 53.6% of Fresno County residents identifying as Hispanic/Latine.
As bilingual Spanish-English conversation cards, the Encuentra deck concretizes the fact that language and our broader cultural roots profoundly shape us and our experience of the world.
The cards foster Encuentra (Encounter) with one’s own cultural background and cross-cultural encounter with others. The questions posed—the cards themselves—are for everyone! Yet it’s also true that students from marginalized communities come from contexts that are not seen as culturally normative (including in higher education), communities where vocational exploration and discernment may seem like a luxury born of privilege. This deck provides a powerful tool to faculty, staff and administrators for fostering inclusive student exploration of their vocation as part of their educational formation in college/university.
The conference goal is for participants to leave with experiences and tools that help them do just that, through encountering Fresno’s diverse cultural context, a heightened awareness of culture as a shaping force for everyone, and practicing Encuentra: asking, answering and reflecting on questions exploring the role of culture and community in shaping vocational understanding, exploration and discernment.
Venue
The regional gathering will take place on Fresno Pacific University’s main campus, located in the vibrant and diverse City of Fresno.
Most sessions will be hosted in the Warkentine Culture and Arts Center, a modern facility offering both large and intimate meeting spaces as well as a spacious foyer ideal for networking and receptions. On Thursday evening, attendees will enjoy dinner in downtown Fresno at Arte Américas, the region’s largest intergenerational and intersectional Latinx cultural hub.
Fresno’s central location also makes it a gateway to natural wonders.
The city is within easy driving distance of three renowned national parks—Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon—offering visitors the opportunity to extend their stay and explore some of the most iconic landscapes in the United States.
Schedule
Registration Costs
Transportation