On Friday July 6, 2012 I attended Acadia's Summer Institute Conference. The focus of the conference was Schooling, Families and Community. The Keynote Speech: "Circle, Square and Triangles: The Geometry of Family/Professional Relationships" by Dr. Philip Ferguson and Dr. Dianne Ferguson, was an interactive presentation. We were asked to be empathetic about families with members who had disabilities and to come up with adjectives to describe what they were. People suggested words such as stressed, tired, amazing, adaptive, advocates, relentless etc. We then discussed how schools need to reach out to create better relationships with parents. Teachers really need to look at the perspective of someone from outside schools and try to see things as parents might see them.We need a new approach. The next presentation "What's Home Got To Do With It" by Karen Dyke, and "Rural Women with Addictions: Authority, Where Is It, Who Has It, and What Does It Do?" by Dr. Shaughney Aston were insightful and asked us to consider how geographic location plays a major role in the effects of a centralization around urban centers.