Questing Workshop: Building Community & Deepening Community Connections
Friday, June 6 ~ 11:00 am - 6:00 pm (lunch will be provided)
Radisson Hotel La Crosse, La Crosse, WI
(limit 10 people)

Gathering Waters Conservancy invites you to attend the Building Community & Deepening Community Connections through Questing Workshop on June 6 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Valley Quest is an award-winning program that uses treasure hunts to discover and celebrate special places and their stories. To make a Quest, a group adopts a site and collaboratively learns about it through field work, research and oral history. Learning is shared by developing and publishing the Quest, which initiates future visitors to hidden stories and special places. This session introduces the Questing process, and takes participants through the process of developing a Quest by visiting a Mississippi Valley Conservancy's property. See how this example of the Quest concept represents a compelling approach for land trusts to engage their community.

Instructor
Steven Glazer directs the Valley Quest program, winner of the New England Environmental Education Alliance’s “program of the year” award in 2005.  He is the editor of Valley Quest: 89 Treasure Hunts in the Upper Valley and Valley Quest II: 75 More Treasure Hunts in the Upper Valley; the co-author of Questing: a Guide to Creating Community Treasure Hunts; and author of The Heart of Learning: Spirituality in Education. Steven received his MA from the University of Chicago in 1986; and has worked with Valley Quest since 1999, helping more than 150 school and community groups study and share their natural and cultural treasures. He serves on the faculty of Antioch New England Graduate School (Department of Education) and Plymouth State University (Heritage Studies); and hosts retreats for the Center for Whole Communities in Fayston, Vermont.

Learning Objectives
A. Stressing the importance of community building: bringing together diverse stake-holders
B. Teaching participants how to find and tell a compelling, over-arching story that frames the importance of their property.
C. Demonstrate the tools and procedures of the Valley Quest process; and their potential value to the land trust community.

Workshop outline
I. Discuss the importance of sense of place
    a) from a personal perspective
    b) recent scholarship (Last Child, etc.)
    c) relevance to conservation organizations

II. Present overview of the Quest process
    a) Goals
    b) Partnership model
    c) Quest process

III. Model and begin to practice the process
    a) Story
    b) Route
    c) Movement clue
    d) Teaching clue
    e) Treasure box

IV. Feedback from participants
    Q & A
    Discussion of challenges & opportunities

Registration & Fees

Registration Deadline: May 23, 2008
To register, complete registration form and return to:

email:                liz [at] gatheringwaters.org
fax:                  608-663-5971
or mail:             211 S. Paterson, Suite 270  Madison, WI  53703

Class Limit: 10 participants
Workshop Fee: $100 per person. The fee includes lunch, refreshments and related handouts.

Cancellation Policy: For cancellations more than one week prior to the June 6 workshop, GWC will refund the balance paid less a $30 cancellation fee. GWC provides no refund for cancellation within one week of the workshop.

Logistics

The first part of the workshop will be held at the Radisson Hotel La Crosse in La Crosse, WI (map) starting at 11am. Participants will then travel by car to a Mississippi Valley Conservancy property for the second half of the workshop. Lunch will be provided by Gathering Waters Conservancy.

Questions? Contact Liz Walsh at 608-251-9131 x15 or liz [at] gatheringwaters.org.

Related Links:

Registration form

Workshop Outline

Registration & Fees

Logistics

Questions

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