Archive for September 16th, 2010

MSI Successful Board Retreat

16/09/2010

Burning the midnight oil

At MSI’s recent residential retreat, the energy was contagious. The board members worked on actively bringing Mountain Spirit to a new level of commitment and confidence. MSI was started in 1998, when R. Richards,  after having just returned from high alpine guiding in Peru, led a trip under the MSI name to the Cusco region of Peru.  Since then the non-profit organization has had numerous and successful programs and workshops ranging from a Peruvian Shamanic Studies program which ran over the course of two years, a wilderness experience educational program, author lectures, and a film series, ongoing programs to Peru, the teen healing adventure and the Peru/USA Music Exchange held in the Northeastern US in the fall of 1998.

“Becoming more sustainable as an organization, and building capacity to deliver programs ” has been the board’s goal for the last two years.  At each board retreat we’ve identified how we can move forward, and at our last retreat, we dug in and wrote our first grant together. Laptops were all over the room, crunching numbers from every program we have on the calendar.

We had a ball, put in some long hours and have some great results. Importantly, we have set a time to develop our annual program schedule where we’ll slate new programs for the coming year during our Board of Directors summer retreat. Also, as  a result of the great work every did putting together some great programs and an top-notch organization-wide budget, we applied for our first grant to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Express Grant. We put in some serious hours, and suffered from a bit of what fellow board member Craig Cimmons calls “HBO”.  The acronym stands for “Haven’t Been Outdoors”.

Thanks to Cindy Heath, Craig Cimmons, Bob Stremba, and Amanda Richards for all the work and energy that they put into the board retreat! Adelante!

Image: MSI Board Members LtoR: The beagle Daphne (not a board member), Randy Richards, Amanda Richards, Bob Stremba, dinner guest and author *Henry  Homeyer, Cindy Heath and Craig Cimmons. (*Who you’ll be seeing more about on this blog)

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MSI Director & VP Present at Conference

16/09/2010

Assoc. of Experiential Ed

R. Richards and Bob Stremba, Ed.D, will be giving a presentation at the 38th Annual International Association of Experiential Education Conference on November 4th in Las Vegas, NV, USA.  The two will share MSI’s unique mission and how MSI blends the world of experiential education with practical spiritual facilitation.  Ther a number of presnetation categories, and the two are slated for a workshop during the conference under the Body/Mind/Spirit category.

The conference, bills itself as “Connecting Communities, Sustaining Educators” which brings together more than 900 experiential educators and practitioners for professional development and networking.

The title of the presentation, “Exspiriential” Education: Integrating Spirit with Experience, comes from the term coined by MSI Founder Richards, which combines Spirit and Experiential education.  The MSI website states: “We’re a hybrid organization – a cross between an experiential wilderness program and a holistic learning center, with elements of both experiential education and spiritual development.”

Stremba is a former board member of AEE, and continues to be actively involved in the association. He currently runs the Outdoor Pursuits program at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Richards has recently joined again as an individual member of AEE.

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November 4-7, 2010- Workshops

2010 Workshops (pdf)

2009 Workshops

2010 Workshop List (subject to change)


Adventure-Based Programming

3rd Annual Trends and Issues in Outdoor Education Programs Panel Discussion
Andrew J. Bobilya,  Tom Holman,  Betsy Lindley, John Gookin, Tim O’Connell, Nina Roberts, Bobbi Beale, Bob Stremba & Jay Roberts

Accreditation 101
Shawn Tierney

Adventure Education and Motherhood II; Are they Mutually Exclusive or Mutually Beneficial?
Erin Lotz

Building Respectful Learning Communities: Setting Positive Behavioral Norms through Adventure
Jane Panicucci & Larry Childs

Chiji Cards: Beyond Processing
Chris Cavert

Designing Skill-based Initiatives
Paul Nicolazzo

Developing a Self-assessment Study
Shawn Tierney

Facilitating Inclusion in Outdoor Adventure: Decisions in Management and Modifications
Alison Voight & Catharine Bishop

Girl, You Got it! Empowering Girls to Develop Technical Skills
Priscilla McKenney & Nadine Budbill

Good Judgment: The Ultimate Facilitator Skill
Chris Ortiz & Jim Grout

Into Thinner Air: More on Adventure Programming at Altitude
TA Loeffler

Intuition or Cognition: The Dual-Process Approach to Judgment and Decision-Making for Outdoor Leaders
Wynn Shooter & Nathan Furman

Leadership and Challenge Center ¡Lánzate! Empowering Agents of Change
Juan Carlos & Echavarría Flores

Outdoor Ethics – How AEE Members Can Easily Implement Effective Leave No Trace Education Programs
Catherine Smith & Sarah Folzenlogen

Project Venture – Evidence Based Prevention Programming
McClellan Hall, Bart Crawford, Neal Ferris & Heather Yazzie

Standards, Legislation, Regulations, Certification, New Technology. What Does This All Mean for My Challenge Course Program?
James Borishade & Bill Weaver

The Living History of Experiential Education
Tom Lindblade

The Ropes of Ecology
Shawn Moriarty

The Use of Emotional Rescue In Adventure Based Activities
Joel Cryer

Thematic Programming: Unifying the Experience
Patrick Torrey

What’s Nature Got To Do With It?
Jacquie Medina

Willi Unsoeld: Outdoor Education Philosophy and Practice From Risk Taking to Rites of Passage
Krag Unsoeld

Experienced Based Training and Development

A Foundation of Trust
Sam Sikes

Accountable Team Building in a Web 2.0 world
Jason Kipps

Alternative Mediums in Experiential Learning
Anand Upadhyay

Experience and Reflection to Inform Design:  Outward Bound and Professional Development for Educators
Billy O’Steen, Andy Mink & Jim LaPrad

Explore the World of EBTD: A World Cafe Experience
Marc Levy & Jonathan Clark

How To Hear What Is Not Being Said
David Kampfschulte

Is Team Building a Set Up?
Claudia Valle & Tim Arnold

Judgment and Decision-Making: How Our Brains Are Wired… and What We Can Do About It
Jeremy Johnson

Overcoming Language Barriers in Facilitation
Sarah Kauntz & Kathleen Day

Secrets of Successful Networking
Jeff Richardson

Spiritual Dimensions of Team
Al Wright

Using Personality Assessments To Become A More Effective Educator
Chris Gee

Facilitation/Processing

A Book of One’s Own: How to Make Books for Processing
Gretchen Newhouse Berns

Building a Sense of Community Experientially
Jeff Jacobs

Creating Transfer of Learning Through Intentional Program Design and Framing
Gregory Paninski

Dramatic Problem Solving
Steven Hawkins

Enhancing Flow in Classrooms Through Experiential Education
Marleah Blom

Focus Your Locus
Justin McGlamery & Mike Gessford

Going GA GA For Global Games
Rich Keegan

Got Tossables?  10 Team Building Games Using Tossable Props You Already Have
Michelle Cummings

Green Mentoring Program
Melinda Campbell & Maryam Davodi-Far

How to Turn Your Support Group from Mediocre to Magnificent
Lynne Downey, Jenni Jardine & Ian Prinsloo

Nature Experiences, Use Them or Lose Them
Francine (Frankie) Piela , Clifford E. Knapp & Mike Bingley

Raccoon Circles, 2010
Thomas Smith

Shifting the Paradigm: from Challenge by Choice to Conscious Choice – An Evolution in Ideology
Jody Radtke & Lizzy Slatt

Systematic Family Sculpting
Gary Hees

Team Interaction Mapping
Mark Rose

The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation & Teaching
Jennifer Stanchfield

The Assessing Matrix
Nate Regier

The Fine Art of Team Building
Adam Ames & Andrew Bordwin

Turbo-charging for Character
James Fish      

Mind/Body/Spirit

“Exspiriential” Education: Integrating Spirit with Experience

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Your Food Supply #23: Engaging in Life

16/09/2010

A wrap-up discussion about what it means to be a local farmer, and who benefits..

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