Speaker: Bryan Seck
What inspired you to become part of SAAEF?
Bryan Seck: Hi, my name is Bryan Seck. I'm the executive director of Lincoln Literacy in Lincoln, Nebraska. We have over 2,000 students, about 2,400 students who come to our classes from very beginner in English all the way to people who are fluent, and we're gonna help them get back into their careers as doctors, lawyers, architects, pediatricians, whatever the case may be. What inspired me to join SAAEF was I attended the COABE conference last year, 2024, and I was very inspired by what everyone was doing, especially on the advocacy front. As a new executive director, I've been here about 2 years and 4 months. I am really focused on what I can do on advocacy and lobbying, but also knowing like where the limits are. So that's really what inspired me is to learn and to be the best possible advocate for adult learners and for new Americans in my community. Lincoln is about 10% foreign born. Up until very recently, we've been a 52 year history of receiving refugees. We hope to start that soon. And also we're just a community of over 100 different countries, all live here in Lincoln, Nebraska, and we're very proud of that. So again, when I think about the inspiration of joining SAAEF, it's to learn more, be the best advocate I can be for adult learners, and also our politicians, our elected officials, they need to know what it's like to be a new American, what it's like to be an adult learner without a GED that we also help native born Americans, and also our elected leaders and leaders in the community just need to know what it's like for for people who come to our community to get started, to be successful, and then to in turn become financially successful, and also integrated into our community. That's the goal, so thank you very much for this opportunity. I truly appreciate it. I really appreciate Sharon and Erin's passion and dedication for this, and I look forward to our Assistant Director of Adult Skills, Julie Grives, who will be the next SAAEF person from Lincoln Literacy to represent Nebraska. So again, thank you very much.
What were your biggest accomplishments during your SAAEF fellowship?
Bryan Seck: I think my biggest accomplishment in SAAEF this year was really getting in front of our legislators, our mayor, and our federal delegation representatives to talk to them about what we do. So we talked to Senator Ricketts's team, Senator Fischer's team, Congressman Flood's team, and also our mayor's office about what we do and also use the talking points from COABE and SAAEF to talk about adult education, in addition to specifically what Lincoln Literacy does, we had an Official Adult Literacy Week named by our mayor as a proclamation, which is now framed and on the walls of our office here, but also I think the bottom line is that by having these conversations. A year ago, the conversations that I'm having now with what's happening in the administration, I'm coming to them as a person that they know. I'm coming to them as a person that they understand that I help speak for 2,400 students from 79 countries and 100 countries across the community, but Lincoln Literacy, 79, and so having those relationships before is really helpful for me now, so I really see that as an accomplishment I wouldn't have known that unless I really needed to be out there like I am now. So I really appreciate the opportunity and again I think the biggest accomplishment is building those relationships with our leaders so that when I have additional questions, they know who I am and a friendly face. I'm not here to yell. Thank you.
What would you like to say to someone in the field who is unsure if they have what it takes to be an advocate?
Bryan Seck: To anyone who's thinking about doing this fellowship or wondering if they have the time or energy or passion to do this, I would say please do. During my regular day, there is no way I would have done the things that I needed to do for this fellowship. I would have been telling myself I need to write another grant. But instead, I got a proclamation from the mayor. I visited our senator's offices. One of our senator's staff came and visited our classes, and they stayed for two hours. So I would say you absolutely have what it takes. You already come to work every day looking to help adult learners, whether they're new Americans whether they're native born Americans. So it's absolutely, this is something you can do. It doesn't matter your level. The organization it's all about increasing your knowledge of advocacy, lobbying, awareness, what all that stuff means, how it works so that you can go out and talk to people knowing that you're not crossing any ethical boundaries or any way that you could possibly hurt your organization. That's really valuable and that's something that I think everybody can learn so I appreciate this opportunity.
