2009 State Coordinator Meeting Recap
State Coordinators recently met outside Springfield Missouri to learn about the new curriculum for Facilitators and Educators. Representatives from 14 states met at the Bull Shoals Field Station Kirbyville, Missouri.
The house located on the field station site is a renovated stone home that is off the grid. The electric power comes from Solar Panels and a propane backup is available when needed.
The facility is used to do research projects ranging from water quality to bat population density. The event started on Friday afternoon with a round of introductions.
After dinner, Janine Kohn, National Education Specialist and Cheryl Riley, Vice President of Education, filled us in on upcoming projects and ideas being discussed at the National Headquarters.
The evening ended with everyone gathered around the campfire, which was masterfully created by Marc Hirrel.
Saturday morning, Marc was up early to make coffee and revive the fire. There was a chill in the air and Marc’s work made us all feel warm.
After a fantastic breakfast, we all headed to the classroom learn about the new goods.
Christine Jacobsen introduced us to the new GPS Curriculum. LEP is very involved with the No Child Left Inside Program that recently passed by Congress. It is hoped that by using technology, we might be able to get children away from the computer and outside. Geo caching is a fun way to get kids outside while providing a fun and competitive activity.
Teams were formed and we all received GPS units along with a pad that had corresponding letters for identification. We were then instructed to go into the surrounding areas and find three interesting or unusual objects. When found an object, we would then ask a question about the object and take a Way-Point reading and go on to the next object. In all, we had three Way-Point readings.
Back to the set meeting place and swap GPS units. Then we would call up the Way-Points on the GPS unit we traded for and head out to find the objects. Most of us found the objects and some didn’t. But the whole idea is to get the children outside and this exercise will surely do it.
So a big thank you to Christine for a job well done. After lunch, we learned about the new Non-Formal LEP Activities. We were trained on all of them and since this was a pilot project, we gave some suggestions to be implemented in the final version.
Dinner was a Dutch-Oven affair created by Luann Waters. It was quite a feast that even drew a couple of Skunks who were looking for handouts.
Sunday we had wonderful casserole made with eggs spinach, corn and who knows what else was thrown in? Thanks Celeste!!!
Sunday morning was spent learning ways to receive funding and listing our goals for the coming year. It was then time to get things cleaned up and head out. It was a wonderful time spent with passionate folks who really want to make a difference in the world.
