It is Conference Season!

With spring approaching, the activities of nonprofits are gearing up with full force.  Yes, conference season is upon us.  It is time to spruce up education programs and learn!  Clean out that garden, pick up the trash, splash about in the first stream assessment of the season, then head on over to the West Virginia Environmental Educators’ Conference in Wheeling, WV on Friday and Saturday, March 27 and 28^th. 

Since the conference is at Oglebay Resort, the Good Zoo and Schrader Environmental Education Center located on the resort grounds are offering fun, Fun, FUN interactive workshops just for conference participants.  Sign up today  at  www.wveea.org!  There are scholarships available for K-12 teachers or Project FLOW Grantees.

So what is happening?  The event promises to be full of opportunities to get outside, find new education resources, reconnect with peers, and learn about excellence in environmental education.  There are tweleve workshops including:

·         Project Learning Tree,

·         Youth Voice in the Classroom and Boardroom,

·         Partnership Development,

·         GIS in Education,

·         EPA Environmental Education Resources,

·         Solutions to the Energy Challenge,

·         Connecting Kids to Watersheds, and

·         Using Social Media in Environmental Education. 

 

If you are like me and like to have an option of moving around instead of sitting in workshops, there are interactive workshops designed for us.  There will be a Maple Sugaring trail hike to learn about maple syrup production…yum!  Oh don’t forget to tour the Schrader Environmental Education Center, a green building.  The Schrader Center is offering an Eco-Art workshop for educators to incorporate art and recycling in the classroom. 

Oh there are also keynoters and a Friday evening dessert reception.   Ruth McCully from the USEPA Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environment Education will speak on Friday and on Saturday Vince Meldrum with Crecer Strategies will speak on youth as environmental citizens.  I hope this blog has peaked your interest in the WV Environmental Educators Association and its conference.  See you there.