We assume and take as a given the following:

• The chief assumption we make here is that growth is possible. We grow at different rates based on experience, knowledge and in this particular case, openness to encountering and engaging new ideas and concepts.
• Each participant has the capacity to grow
• That each participant is seeking to grow.
• Each participant, in many respects, is responsible for their own growth
• History matters-Understanding the stories that shapes us is a necessary process of becoming.
• To humanize others is to humanize self