The author of this article, president of NCSS (2004-2005), is a professor of social studies education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This address was delivered at the 84th NCSS Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, November 2004. The author's vision for social studies and NCSS in the twenty-first century comes from growing up in a culturally diverse environment, attending public schools in the 1940s and 1950s, experiencing the influence of caring teachers and role models in his my life, living in the 1960s as an adult, and interacting positively and constructively with social studies educators over the years. Intertwined in this select biographical sketch, are his self-perceptions as he lives in worlds that are both culturally diverse and white. These experiences shaped his outlook on social studies instruction and NCSS.