Education Archive

Education

Education Report

January, 2014

Vice-Chair, Education: Betsy Tisdale, 315-265-4721

In summer of 2012 we sent Dakota Guyette from Potsdam Middle School, and Anna Kearney from Parishville-Hopkinton School to DEC Camp Colby. In 2013 Nathan Burns, a 6th grader from Colton-Pierrepont School and David Plumadore from McKenny Middle School in Canton were selected. All were recommended by their guidance counselors. Thanks are extended to the guidance counselors for their patience and understanding. In 2012 we sent Keith Bollt and Gaetan Foisy into hard labor on high school trail crews. They enthusiastically returned in 2013, and were joined by Jake Beaudette as well.

We ran four Outdoors/Indoors events each in 2012 and 2013, running from January to April. We have so many talented people: professors, teachers, an accountant, a DEC employee, actors; male, female; young, old (20 to 79)! Topics included Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii; travelling by ship above the Arctic Circle; stars, galaxies, meteors; a dramatic reading of Jeanne Robert Foster’s free-verse Adirondack Portraits: A Piece of Time; re-establishing raptors in NY State; a long-term study of the Spruce Grouse in the Adirondacks; and we “rode the ferry” to Newfoundland. The variety and quality of the presentations continues to astonish me.

I would like to thank Blair Madore for his help in finding workers for High School Volunteer Trails; also Joann Ferris for helping with hospitality, and my husband, David.

My hope for the future is that there might be a larger audience for the Outdoors/ Indoors talks - especially high school and college students, who would really enjoy these fantastic travel, nature, and literature programs. My best wishes and thanks to Jeff Miller who is taking on the Education role.