NCEA Presents: From Scrolls to Schools
NCEA warmly invites Catholic school educators, leaders, and their families to a special summer gathering hosted in partnership with the Museum of the Bible.
Monday, July 20, 2026
9:30 AM – 1 PM
Museum of the Bible
400 4th St. SW, Washington, DC 20024
Designed to inspire and prepare educators for the upcoming school year, this experience offers an opportunity to reconnect with community, faith, and purpose before the busy school season begins.
Why Attend
Attendees will enjoy:
- Access to the Museum of the Bible
- Opportunities to connect with fellow Catholic educators and school leaders
- A featured presentation on the Dead Sea Scrolls before the exhibit departs in August
- Back-to-school inspiration and practical classroom ideas
- Ideas for meaningful student field trip experiences
Schedule
- 9:30 AM Welcome
- 9:45 AM NCEA Speaker
- 10:45 AM Sandra Argo, Education Presentation for School Programs (20 mins)
- 11:05 AM Dr. Duke, Dead Sea Scrolls Presentation and Q&A (40 mins)
- 11:45 AM Museum Exploration or tours and Lunch on your own
Admission
Admission to the event and museum is complimentary for adult attendees. Registration is required.
Children (ages 7–13) of attending school staff may participate in a supervised workshop during the event for a $10 registration fee.
Optional access to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is available for an additional $7 per person, and boxed lunches may be purchased for $30 each.
Register Now
We hope you will join NCEA for this meaningful day of faith, discovery, and renewal as we prepare for a new school year together.
About the Speakers
Dr. Robert Duke, Chief Curatorial Officer
Dr. Robert "Bobby" Duke (University of California, Los Angeles) serves as the Chief Curatorial Officer and as the Director of the Scholars Initiative at Museum of the Bible. He formerly served as a professor in the Honors College and is also a former dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of The Social Location of the Visions of Amram (Peter Lang) and Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary (Zondervan).
Bobby earned both his PhD and MA in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA, as well as an MA in Hebrew Bible from Jerusalem University College and a theology degree from Multnomah University. He was also the recipient of a fellowship from the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem to work on his dissertation, which focused on Aramaic documents from Qumran. His scholarly writing—especially Dead Sea Scrolls research—is widely respected. Before beginning graduate studies at Hebrew University and UCLA, Duke taught 6th and 7th grade in Southern California. From 2009–2012, he also chaired the Service-Learning and Biblical Studies workshop at the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting.
Sandra Argo, Director of Education
With more than 30 years of experience in education, Sandra has been in the classroom with students of all levels teaching, supervising curriculum, as school principal, and as owner of a private international education company. Sandra holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in teaching and one in management and leadership, as well as two masters, one in project management and one in educational leadership with a focus on museum studies.
In the last 12 years, Sandra has dived deeply into museum education, bringing her world-class experience of developing immersive educational programs in four countries (USA, Brazil, England, and Finland) with her. In the US, the focus of her work was museums in the East Coast, the Smithsonian and private museums. Her edupreneurship (entrepreneurship + education) skills bring innovation and a new vision for the Education Department of Museum of the Bible.