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2008 Fall Conference “Experience the Outdoors”
By Bruce Patterson, MAEOE 2008 Conference Chair & Past President
 The 2008 Annual MAEOE Conference was a hit. We had over 50 presenters and over 120 registered participants, including professionals from museums, nature centers, state and national agencies and organizations, and both pre-service and practicing classroom teachers. Our participants included representatives from three states and the District of Columbia. We had a record number of recipients of scholarships for pre-service teachers and stipends for practicing classroom teachers.
The MAEOE members had some great treats during this years’ annual conference. One was the outstanding weather during the conference! You could not have asked for a nicer weekend for an outdoor and environmental education conference. The temperatures were in the mid 70’s, and the fall colors were about 60% and absolutely outstanding. Also, as always, the opportunity to bond with other educators was an especially enjoyable experience. Many of use enjoyed the evening campfire. Some people played guitars and banjos and sang, while others made s’mores and sat lakeside, watching the two campfires blaze.
 Another treat was the plenitude of environmental education curricula, and the NCLI Coalition’s panel presentation. We were all very grateful to have obtained this valuable information. The breakout sessions had great variety, ranging from sessions for classroom teachers to nature center professionals. There were sessions for individuals that were interested in experiential education in areas such as bee keeping for the classroom, bird watching for the classroom, and new environmental and outdoor education curricula. Also, through this great networking opportunity, many nature centre professionals met educators who will benefit from each others’ expertise. Perhaps most excitingly, we had an outstanding registration for the pre-conference experiential day where we now have over 30 MAEOE certified experiential educators
in Michigan! Overall, the MAEOE board, conference planners, and everyone in attendance agrees that this was a worthwhile experience! Thank you to all who participated!
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