 research or PAR is an inquiry process in which people ask questions that are important to them. It allows people to research questions that they can then make informed decisions about and act on. And in asking those questions with others and working on the process, they build capacity because they're working with each other, they're finding out the power of learning and sharing knowledge with one another. And this is something that then becomes very relevant to their lives. It is also a process that is a cyclic, repeatable process. So people can find out information, make decisions, act on them, and then assess their actions, assess whether or not they need more information and continue on with that. Well, I collaborated with two graduate students, Maria Hicks and Jason Miller from the Department of Anthropology, and together we planned and taught a course that matched students. Students were able to choose the organizations that they were going to work with to engage in the research that is part of the PAR process. So students were able to choose from a variety of organizations. Some of these organizations were non-profit social service agencies. There were a couple of businesses. One student worked with the local public library. And the kinds of questions that the organizations were interested in were things like, well, are we serving our clientele? Are we getting services to our clientele in the best possible way? Are we communicating well as an organization? And what is life like for youth here in Bellingham? Those were the kinds of questions. The interesting aspect was, I think it was week seven, but I think I finally realized what the PAR was. I call it a PAR epiphany. Apparently, I was so entrenched, so ingrained into traditional research, I really did not necessarily know what the PAR was until that later week, when I made the observation that people within my focus groups were starting to participate and generate research questions of their own. I thought it was really strange that people would turn to me and go, oh, is this okay if I ask this question? I think you might get some better information. And I was like, oh, go ahead. And it was shocking to me as they're used to doing traditional research to have people who actually wanted to help me with my research and ask questions within their own group. And so I felt that that was probably the true PAR experience, because they were co-researchers. They weren't just participants. They weren't objects, subjects, or objects. And I wasn't a researcher. They were doing the research with me. And so I felt that was probably one of the high points in what we were doing. I felt that was what PAR was. And I didn't really know that until later on through the process. Students would enter into the process as team members with their community partners. And in the classroom, they would learn some of the research strategies that they could share with their community partners. The classroom was also a place where they could debrief and talk about how the process was going. And it was a very interactive environment. Students learned an enormous amount from each other, as well as from Jason, Maria, and myself. And at the same time, the community partners were their teachers. The larger classroom was really the community itself.