Cannonball Conference Offers SLU Staff a Chance to ‘Recharge, Reconnect, Reignite’

10/26/2023

Hundreds of Saint Louis University staff members took a break Thursday to take part in the inaugural Cannonball Conference. 

For years, the University has hosted the Cannonball Picnic to recognize staff. This year, the SLU Human Resources team led by Adam Chierek, Jim Greathouse and Aaron Mensinger reimagined and relaunched the event under a new banner — the Cannonball Conference. 

“Today is really a day to celebrate all of you, our incredible community,” said Mickey Luna, Vice President of Human Resources. “It’s a day to thank all of you for all that you do, but also a day for the University to invest in you. It’s an opportunity to offer you all a day to recharge your batteries, reconnect with colleagues, reignite the mission within you, and to gain insights to support us in our work and daily lives.”

The day-long event kicked off with a morning session in the Wool Ballroom featuring remarks from Luna, Vice President for Mission and Identity David Suwalsky, S.J., Ph.D., and SLU President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.

“It’s the first time we’ve done it this way,” Pestello said. “Mickey and his colleagues thought we needed to invest more in our staff, do more development. That’s what he had heard from, you, and so I appreciate him and his team doing that – building on this tradition to create a full-day opportunity for our staff to be developed, to be enriched.”

The Cannonball Conference gets its name from the battlefield injury suffered by St. Ignatius in 1521. Suwalsky shared some thoughts on St. Ignatius and said he often thinks about the founder of the Society of Jesus while on campus.

“This may sound odd or a little practiced, but it’s true,” Suwalsky said. “There are times when I walk across campus and I just wonder what Ft. Ignatius would think were he around today…. 
I think about Ignatius, and I just marvel at how a wounded soldier's experience and the Lord’s gracious care of him would become a way of receiving and, frankly, loving that would transform lives so profoundly.”

Suwalsky encouraged staffers to think about the inspiration behind the Cannonball Conference. 

“Today we celebrate a great and holy man,” Suwalsky said. “We celebrate and remember St. Ignatius of Loyola so that we will remember what should never be forgotten. Just as God accomplished great things inSt. Ignatius, so too can God can do so in and through each one of us if we only trust, if we only believe, if we only act as if we are all saints in the making and are all called to further the kingdom of God at Saint Louis University.”

Pestello opened his remarks by thanking all the staff at SLU, even those not in attendance. He praised the staff for their diligent work in keeping the day-to-day operations of the University. 

“You, the staff of this University, keep this University running,” he said. “We would not be running and functioning without you. In each and every role that you play — you maintain the grounds we walk on, the spaces we work in and the roofs over our heads. You ensure meetings, events and classes are able to happen at the right place, the right time and in the right conditions. You operate our IT infrastructure, you administer our finances, you monitor our compliance with polices. You extend care and you support our students and one another. I thank you for all of that.”

Once he was finished addressing the crowd, Pestello turned the microphone over to the audience. He asked the staff to shout out members of the University community who were worthy of recognition. Staffers spent the next several minutes shouting out friends and colleagues from around the University and thanked them for all their work to make SLU run.

Following the morning remarks, staff members were able to take part in breakout sessions. The sessions included an improve session, a history session, a collaboration exercise session, and three ComPsych sessions. A guided walk across campus was also an option. 

Keynote speaker Eric M. Bailey then kicked off the next part of the day. Bailey, a SLU alum, delivered a speech, "I Think Therefore I Err: Using Brain Science to Effect Change, Human Connection, and Happiness."

In a lively and interactive speech, Bailey challenged the audience to think differently. He introduced concepts like the illusion of certainty, where people think they are right but aren’t always. 

Bailey talked about the importance of simple things like saying sorry and admitting to not knowing the answer. 

“The only things in life that we can learn are things we don't yet know,” he said. 

Bailey encouraged the group to be curious and to continue learning. He said people need to not react to different opinions with phrases like “I don’t understand how you could possibly think that,” but instead add “But I want to” to create a shared understanding. 

After Bailey was finished, staff were treated to lunch and a chance to take part in a breakout session from the morning that they did not attend. The day closed with a session on the new  Shared Mission videos and a conversation about volunteer opportunities.