Great Turnout for the WAEE Winter Workshop!

Me, enjoying the
Northwoods!

Hi GEEKs, this is cofounder Katie M-T. I had the opportunity to spend last weekend at the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education Winter Workshop, which was held at the Treehaven facility in the beautiful Wisconsin Northwoods. Check out WAEE on their Facebook page here. There was a great turnout this year of families, students of all ages, and professional educators. Everyone had inspiring stories to tell and it was such a great experience for me that I have to share it with you.

Planetwalker John Francis

The first session I attended was the keynote address, a thoughtful talk by "Planetwalker" John Francis.  Starting and finishing his story with some banjo-playing, Francis told his audience about how and why   he gave up all motor transportation for 22 years, with 17 of those years spent under a vow of silence. He ended his silence in order to share with the world what he had learned: that environmental problems should not be looked at as purely scientific, but instead as a reflection of the way we as humans treat each other. It was a moving, well-told speech and I was amazed that I had never looked at it that way before.

Children learning fire
 building skills

One of the other sessions was an account of a college student's study-abroad semester in Germany, where environmental education is heavily supported by the government. There was also a lesson about working with teen volunteers from a woman who had started a summer program that lets teens volunteer at a nature center every week. Finally, I participated in an "outdoor inquiry" session where we learned how activities like sledding and making jello could be used to teach science.

The workshop allowed plenty
of time for conversation

All in all, the workshop was a valuable experience for me and definitely worth the drive. It was especially helpful for me to meet the many knowledgeable educators and students who were eager to support the GEEKs program. Thanks for reading and I hope to see some more GEEKs at next year's workshop!