Opening Talk at the Plain Roots Conference

Today we begin bringing you videos from the Plain Roots conference held on June 26 and 27, starting with the opening talk that I gave. Each segment of the conference will have a biography of the speaker or speakers. Here is mine:

Saloma grew up Amish in Ohio. She left her community twice — first at 20 and again at 23. She had two teenage sons when she attended Community College of Vermont and then found her way to the Ada Comstock program at Smith College. She graduated at 50 with a major in German Studies and a minor in Philosophy. Her education included a semester in Germany. She is the author of three memoirs, including Liberating Lomie. Parts of her story were featured in two American Experience films “The Amish” and “The Amish: Shunned.” She is deeply committed to helping others realize their dreams of earning a college education.

Synopsis of the talk:

From a Lone Scholar to Creating a Community for Educated Formerly Amish

As a Smith College student in my forties, I thought there just had to be other formerly Amish who were attending college. I craved knowing at least one other scholar with whom I could share stories, encouragement, and understanding of the college journey after leaving an Amish community, and yet I knew no one. Five years after I graduated, Emma Miller reached out about starting a scholarship fund, and over the coming years I discovered others. It had always been my dream to get together with other formerly Amish scholars to discuss our experiences, and I once mentioned that to Steven Nolt at the Young Center for Anabaptist Studies. Sometime later, he asked if I was still interested. And that is how the 2024 symposium at The Young Center was conceived of, which was the precursor to this Plain Roots Conference. This is a second opportunity for experiencing a supportive community of educated formerly Amish and other Plain Scholars.

And here is the video of the talk:

We will bring you stories from the conference in the form of videos weekly so that you may get a sense of the conference as those who attended experienced it.

Should you feel so inspired, please visit the Donate page of our website. Because we had 25 qualifying applicants this year, we were not able to give to each as generously as we would have liked to. We hope to raise the funds needed to give more generously next year, so your generosity is very much appreciated.

I look forward to hearing from you.