Over 200 teachers, administrators and counselors from Holdenville, Maud, Okemah, Seminole and Wetumka attended a professional development workshop on Tuesday, August 7 sponsored by the GEAR UP program on the Seminole State College campus. The event started with a motivational team building exercise presented by The Drum Cafe. While playing individual drums, each participant was encouraged to understand the importance of his or her role in something much larger.
![Room full of people](http://www.sscok.edu/media/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/GearUpEvent9-1024x732.jpg)
After the team building drum session, participants received a presentation from Patti Albright who discussed Ruby Payne’s “A Framework for Understanding Poverty.” The event provided those in attendance with in-depth information to understanding class differences and 10 actions that can be implemented in the classroom to achieve impact.