CEEPS West 2006 Report

April 7-9, 2006
(Rocky Mountain YMCA, Kananakis, AB)
April 21 - 23, 2006
(Bark Lake Leadership Centre, Haliburton, ON)

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   Updated: April 17, 2006

 

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CEEPS West 2006 Post-conference Report

We had exciting growth for our fourth year of the Canadian Experiential Education Practitioners Symposium (CEEPS) - we went West!  Our first gathering in Western Canada took place on April 7-9, 2006 at the Rocky Mountain YMCA Camp in Kananaskis Country, Alberta.  Indeed, it even took on an international feel, as we were joined by six practitioners from the Netherlands!  I was very pleased by the turnout (over 30 attendees) - a perfect sized group for an intimate and flexible symposium.  We recorded our best ever participant feedback across the board, along with some great ideas for further growth in future years.

Allan in session.A hands-on session requiring some focus.Jason Kipps presents a session

A lot of people took advantage of our out-of-province discount to attend from British Columbia.  We introduced this discount in our very first year to recognize that Canada is a big community to pull together, and we want to help with travel costs in any way that we can.  After all, the high cost of travel was one of the reasons I established our own version of the NCCPS symposium in Canada in the first place.

It never fails that one big takeaway is the interactions between some truly diverse people of varying experience and backgrounds.  Three of the first people to create sessions on-the-spot for our Virtual Space grid were a college professor and a pair of high school students.  That, to me, spells true success.  As for our Dutch guests, they were right in there, every step of the way.  Another highlight for me was an outdoor educator, faced with a challenging program design that she had to create for a large group of youth in the near future.  She championed a session, and then scribbled in delight as a fantastic collection of experienced designers and interested participants brainstormed ideas and came up with some superb activities for her theme.

And throughout the entire symposium we hear the same thing over and over again: "I can't believe how much people are willing to share what they know."  It has to be more than just luck.  One of our mantras is "the right people will be there", but you also have to create the right forum, the right environment, and the right tools - and CEEPS has that in spades!

As in past years (2003, 2004, 2005) this report includes descriptions of some of the sessions delivered, some participant comments, and plans for CEEPS 2007 and beyondThanks to Elswyth who shared photographer duties with me for this report.

CEEPS West 2006 Attendees (minus 1 or 2)

(CEEPS comes to the mountain)

Additional recognition this year goes to Bill Nutter of the Delta Synergy Group.  Bill not only helped out a bit with some Alberta logistics, he also offered to have the Delta Synergy Group sponsor 50% of the registration fee for any staff member of that organization that chose to attend either CEEPS West or CEEPS East.  I think that company will see a good return on their investment!

REPORT CONTINUED...

Andrew rolls out CEEPS 2005Respectfully submitted,

Andrew Welch
CEEPS Champion

 

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Contents (c) Copyright 2006, Andrew Welch.   This page was last updated April 19, 2006