2022 featured Speakers

Trained in comparative literature and the author of three novels, Ashley Hope Pérez is interested in the ethical implications of how we tell, read, mediate, and interpret narratives. Her most recent research explores how selected works of twentieth-century Latin American fiction disrupt readers’ attempts to make sense of narrated cruelty.  As a literacy advocate, she seeks to foster meaningful reading and writing experiences, especially among Latina/o children and teenagers. 

 Ryan Andrew Stream is a motivational speaker, Musician, American Soldier and Instructor with a heart that pumps passion and positive change.

Ryan’s biological parents made bad choices and decisions that led them to addictions, jail, and prison. Sleeping in a homeless shelter, foster care homes and his mother passing away from suicide destroyed his childhood.  In an extraordinary turn of events a police officer adopted Ryan into a loving family of thirteen. 

Life is unpredictable, and obstacles that you might not have foreseen can come out of nowhere and stunt your momentum or change the reality of your original dreams. That is why the concept of finding ‘alternative peaks’ can offer a fresh perspective on the paths you take along your journey.   

Most of us envision a single path for ourselves, but what we don’t anticipate is getting stuck and feeling like we can’t muster the effort to escape. This is when it’s time to search for alternative peaks.