User:Jacob.Walker/Blog/2026-01-17 50th Birthday Party Plan

Jacob's 50th Birthday Party is not only a party, but a reflection of Jacob's life, and his continual striving to get more effect for the effort , with what Jim Collins calls "the genius of the AND". Specifically, Jacob's first half century of consciousness has had one continual theme: Rethinking Education. And, so here is the evolving plan about the logistics of the party, to have it be both enjoyable AND support Jacob's lifelong work:

Pacific Time (PST)	GMT / UTC (24hr)	Segment	In-Person Activities	Online Activities	Media
10AM–12PM		Setup	Move current chairs to the walls		🎶 Jacob's 50th Setup for Greatness 🙌
12:00–12:30 PM	19:00–20:20		Get Manning Hall Tables/Chairs	Tech Setup
12:30–1:00 PM	20:30–21:00	Early Arrivals / Helpers	Greeters share program & info	Discord help & Info by Greeter	🎶 Jacob's 50th Years Passing Playlist 🥂
1:00–1:15 PM	21:00–21:15	Arrival & Settling In	Potluck setup, go to table
1:15–1:30 PM	21:15–21:30	Jacob Welcome's Everyone	Focus on the stage from table	Go to "stage"	Slide show?
1:30–1:45 PM	21:30–21:45	First Guided Conversation: Starter to ReThink Education	Get food & table introductions	Go to "table", intro & convo	🎶 Jacob's 50th ReThink 🤯
1:45–2:30 PM	21:45–22:30		Guided conversation & eating
2:30–2:45 PM	22:30–22:45	Jacob Talks Cake + "Yes And"	Focus on the stage from table	Go to "stage"	📽️ Karen Tilstra's Yes And TEDx
2:45–3:45 PM	22:45–23:45	Second Guided Conversation: "Yes And" Improv(e)	Guided conversation & eating cake	Back to "table"	🎶 Jacob's 50th Yes And 🙂‍↕️🙵
3:45–4:00 PM	23:45–00:00	Appreciation & Action	Jacob is on stage with closing	Go to "stage"	🎶 Jacob's 50th Go Out and Do It! 🦸‍♂️
4:00–4:30 PM		After-Event Mingling	People can mingle as desired	Mingle as desired
4:30–5:00 PM		Cleanup	Reverse Setup Process	Get Recordings

Setup

The primary things that will need to be setup are the tables and chairs at the venue, and technology to provide a smooth online and in-person experience.

Room Setup

Team

• Jerry Walker - Team Lead
• Jacob Walker
• Kristen Zoabi
• Taha Zoabi
• Riley Walker

Pre-Setup

• Put markers on floor where existing chair rows are, to make putting them back easier
• Bring over extra chairs, as needed

Day Of Event Setup

1. Move sanctuary chairs to the walls, where they won't block any doors
2. After the Food Group that meets in Manning Hall on Saturdays, leaves: bring in tables and chairs, and set them up per diagram

Tech Setup

Team

• David Jones - Team Lead, Online Coordination
• Jacob Aronson - Online Support
• Dave Langley - Videography
• Jesse Sanchez - Sound Board

Pre-Setup

• David Jones and Jacob Aronson, will setup the Discord Server to be ready for the party
• Jacob Walker will write content on Discord
• Jacob Walker will work on the data flow to have in-person and online work smoothly with the 2 computers at the venue

Day Of Event Setup

• David Jones will coordinate, with Jacob Aronson as his assistant
• Dave Langley will work on getting the camera going
• Jesse Sanchez will run sound for the venue audience

Arrival & Settling In

Greeting Guests Arriving

Team

• Ava Reich - In-Person
• Stephanie Langley - In-Person
• Jacob Aronson - Online
• Abram Doe - Online

Activity

Greeting is one of the most important roles of the event, as it sets the first impression. It is critical that we:

• Put our guests at ease, as they might not know anyone else other than Jacob
• Provide important logistical info:
  • In-Person: Where the food goes for the potluck. Where the restrooms are.
  • Online: How to use Discord, including the Stage and "Tables"
• Help our guests to understand a little about how the event will function:
  • Each table will have a topic that will have an activity about the topic in the party.
  • I may have already asked certain people to be at a specific table, but otherwise ask them to choose a topic that sounds intriguing to them.
  • Let them know they don't need to know anything about the topic at the moment.
  • In-Person: Give them a printed program; Online: Show them where they can see the program

Potluck Coordination

Team

• TBD
• TBD

Pre-Setup

• On Friday, bring tables for potluck
• Make signs for the 3 sections of the tables

Coordinating Guests

• Have three sections on the tables:
  • Main Dishes
  • Side Dishes
  • Desert
• When people come in with their potluck dish, guide them to where to put it, and let them know they can get food now and/or later

From Stage: Jacob Welcome's Everyone

Jacob shares his life journey up to this point:

1. Before I entered Kindergarten, I was almost "held back" in preschool, and so was considered a "slow learner".
2. But, after being pulled from formal school at the age of 9, to take a trip around the United States for 3 months, where my dad made sure we stopped at every historical museum AND every NASA space center, I then became known as the "smart kid" in school, because I was now fascinated with learning about our history and our future.
3. Then around the age of 11, my parents told me not to touch their Atari ST computer... And my self-taught journey of reaching expertise in technology began.
4. And this led my teenage years to have a bifurcation of having my high school experience at Del Oro being valuable, especially Mr. Lasley inspiring me to think deductively, and Mr. Kurnett inspiring me to think scientifically, and a key experiment blew my mind and made me recognize our human epistemic fallibility.
5. At the same time, I was starting to meet other computer nerds via electronic BBS systems (a proto Internet), which led to meeting the friends I made online with MUPTs (Modem User Pizza Thingies), and that along with my playing AD&D, led to Techno Gnomes being formed as a group of friends still connected today, in some way.
6. And these friends, and the birth of the Internet as a more public thing, led us Sierra College students, to start the first Internet provider in Placer County: Psyberware. This lit the flame of entrepreneurship in my heart, that will not stop burning, even today when it would be easier to take an easier path.
7. But change is inevitable (except from a vending machine :-), and as the journey of Psyberware was winding down because modems couldn't go faster, and broadband was controlled by an oligopoly, I changed careers more directly to being an educator: teaching at Grant Adult Education, and working towards a Bachelor's degree in Vocational Education. It thrust me into a new paradigm of education, with teaching self-paced mastery-learning courses, where I would literally have adult students who were millionaires sitting next to someone who was homeless, and they interacted as equal students, not knowing the others background. It was through this background that caused me to question standard education, that I had the opportunity to write several of California's educational standards for Career Technical Education.
8. From here, I had the fortune of crises every few years, that I did not let go to waste. This started with Grant merging with other districts to become Twin Rivers, right about the time the Great Recession hit, causing adult schools around California to lose their state funding. Thankfully, our new adult school leader boldly decided that we would transform our school from standard adult education to a vocational school that would use Federal Pell Grant funding in place of the state funding we lost. This was a huge undertaking, that I had the privilege of being tasked with doing most of the details! And so while on paper I was a "teacher on special assignment", to the Federal government, I was the Chief Financial Aid Officer, in charge of coordinating millions of dollars of funding. It also led to me advising California's primary accrediting body on how they should change their accreditation protocol for postsecondary education.
9. Yet as we were working to build the airplane of earning money via Pell Grants, we also had our resources pulled away quicker than we could sustain our flight. And it was then that we learned about how we could form an adult charter school to get a different type of state funding, to continue to serve the unserved adult population who don't fit neatly as high school students nor in college. This led me to again take on the details, this time co-founding Highlands Community Charter School. It also led me to understand politics more, and unfortunately directly understand the politics of public corruption. And corrupt the school became, as Channel 10 documented well in their investigative reporting "The Wild West of Education". So I could not ethically stay on with what I helped birth, and left.
10. This was really my first time in the "wilderness". I had no other job lined up, and my first attempts at starting a consulting business failed, because my focus failed. But as I was about to not make my house payment, I had the fortune of being hired with Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), in the Superintendent's office, to do data analysis to work to change the district. This was the first time I experienced the full force of B.S. (bureaucratic systems :-). I did not thrive, I did not feel I made a difference, and ultimately the entrenched system of vested interests, and systemic inertia forced our superintendent out, and about the same time I had the opportunity to become a Lead Software Engineer with Renaissance learning. This also taught me I cannot work for a big corporation and do a good job. Beyond the B.S. (Bureaucratic systems), which were at least less than SCUSD, my passion was no longer to try to optimize profit, which despite being a progressive organization, was still the bottom line of Renaissance. And due to my extreme honesty on some things to my new "boss", I was laid off.
11. And yet all those events led me to now, where I have been "unemployed" for two years, not because I can't get a job, but that I believe I need to use my experience for the greatest good, and only a few jobs do that, and I learned from SCUSD and Renaissance the type of jobs that sap my soul! Further, of even more importance, this life has given me a unique view of education, from many many sides, and I've been researching and in deep thought over how to build something better. And, I'm convinced this is not optional. Most of the major problems in our world can be traced back to our education system, and we have potentially huge problems coming to humanity about how much AI will be a blessing or curse to us. And yet we are still using a system, that even with its bells and whistles, still would be recognizable to someone from the 1800's, even as much of the rest of the world would blow their mind. And honestly, I don't have a savior complex. I may be smarter than many, but I do some really dumb things sometimes. And many even smarter people do dumb things more than me! But, I have had this unique experience, that I feel I'm obligated to use now. I've had the trappings of "success", but honestly, now success will be how many girls learn a skill so they don't feel they need to sell their bodies; how many people find a way out of abject poverty, by gaining digital skills and knowledge. And how we can have people all over the world live a more meaningful life, even as the AI reality often causes us to feel like we are losing meaning. That is why I am so glad you are all here. You each have wisdom to share from your experiences, no matter how short or long those have been. And I want the work we are doing with EducateONE to be able to benefit from some of that wisdom, and that is what our table conversations will work to do.

At Tables: First Facilitated Conversation

In person, people will still be getting food, as they are coming to the tables.

Conversation: Starter to ReThink Education

Team

Table Facilitators (Formerly known as Table Leads)

• Demeaned to Dignity: In-Person: Karen Schindler?, Online: Ash Rahman
• Digitools for Developing Economies: In-Person: Jerry Yamashita?, Online: Gibran R. Nameer
• Family Enterprise Education: In-Person: Aimee Walker, Online: Manny Casillas
• Actually Useful AI: In-Person: David Steele?, Online: Tom-Chris?
• Master Educator: In-Person: Alice Jacobs, Online: Doreen Myrie?
• Master Mentor: In-Person: Araceli Perez, Online: Abubakar Sarty
• Competency Cubes: In-Person: Dave Werkely?, Online: Olga Evans
• GPTeachers: In-Person: Corbin Crutchley, Online: Carrie Casillas
• Pay-It-Forward Scholarships: In-Person: Rick Reich, Online: Derrick Kudzordzi

Topic Cards

Demeaned to Dignity

[Description]

Thinking about what smartphones can do, if ..., how ... ?

Co-Facilitation Setup

The role of the table facilitator has little to do with knowing the topic of the table, and most to do with pulling people out of their shells.

The in-person facilitator will have a laptop with them so they can also be at the online table with the online facilitator. Since many of the online coordinators are from locations that have flaky infrastructure of electricity and Internet, the in-person facilitator may need to help online in case something goes wrong. We also will have an extra person at the online table if we can, who is a bit familiar with the topic, so they can help, in case problems happen.

Facilitated Conversation

Conversation Facilitator ask one at time (don't do all questions at once, we want to go around quickly for each one)

1. Who are you? and...
2. What is one thing you want us to know about you? (The first 2 questions are asked at one time, since the first answer is short)
3. How do you know Jacob?
4. What is the most valuable thing you learned in school, college, or training?
5. What was the most useless thing you learned in school, college, or training?
6. What is the most valuable thing you learned outside of formal education?
7. If there was one thing you could have everyone in the world learn, what would it be?

From Stage: Jacob Talks Cake + "Yes And"

• https://youtube.com/shorts/il48SeduYOY?si=bt8jBwny3yRz0oyK

Cake

Team

• Kathleen Demontigny - Lead
• Zain Zoabi - Helper

At Tables: Second Facilitated Conversation

"Yes And" Improv(e)

Team

Same Conversation Facilitators from first facilitated conversation

Activity

1. Lead Asks the table: "When you hear the term ___ what is the image you get in your head?"
2. Lead gives everyone an actual description of the concept, and reads it aloud
3. Lead asks for someone to play devil's advocate and share a hurdle that would make it not work.
4. Then the table goes around with a solution brainstorm in a "yes, and..." manner.

Cleanup

In-Person

Team

• Jerry Walker - Team Lead
• Jacob Walker
• Kristen Walker
• Taha Walker
• Riley Walker
• Dwayne Partridge?
• Others who volunteer