In August, Highland Community College in Freeport, Illinois integrated a civic reflection training and discussions into its semi-annual in-service program for 120 faculty and staff. The program, titled "Fences and Neighbors," focused on how people build walls and connect across them at the college. Twelve faculty and staff members from across the campus—including support staff, Human Resources and finance personnel, librarians, and faculty from the sciences and humanities—were led in a 3-hour mini-training on facilitation by PCR executive director Elizabeth Lynn. The following day, after Elizabeth presented a brief introduction to civic reflection, each facilitator led two breakout sessions, one on Franz Kafka's parable "Fellowship" and another on two poems about walls, Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" and Yusef Komunyakaa's "Facing It."

Highland's Vice President for Academic Services, Jeff Davidson, says, "Many of the faculty who participated said that the program was one of the best in-service programs that we have had at the college in many years. Several of our humanities departments have started some of their meetings with a brief civic reflection reading and discussion. This seems to end up making their meetings more productive."

In an online survey, 100% of respondents said the program had helped them connect with others at Highland (68% "a great deal"). Seventy-eight percent said the program had sparked ideas for new activities in their work or community life. Participants also expressed appreciation for the chance to talk with others on campus with whom they would not ordinarily interact, and for the opportunity to reflect and renew their energy for a new academic year.

Elizabeth Lynn noted that a key element of the program's success was that the facilitators came from within the organization: "They took this on and owned it, and not just the faculty owned it. There was much talk at the end about building the practice of civic reflection into their life together." Four Highland faculty members also received professional development credit to attend PCR's October facilitation training in Chicago, where they discussed strategies for incorporating civic reflection into the regular work of the college's faculty, staff and administrators.