2008 Conference
July 13-18, 2008
St. Norbert College, DePere, Wisconsin
I am writing to inform you of the latest information with regard to our summer of 2008 FIEL Conference. The organizing committee met in November and the entire group has been busy contacting speakers and working on various aspects of the program. I am pleased to report that plans for the summer are going quite well. The trust given to the organizing committee is quite sacred and no one in that group wants to disappoint the attendees, therefore our meetings are quite open and blunt and at various times the role of the devil’s advocate must be advanced. Because we do not want to be conditioned to any presence of staleness, there will be some experiments this year. A minor example of this is that the keynote speaker will not have the entire morning for his session. We have also advanced a theme that might test the strength of some of our members in that the concept of “wellness” has been chosen. The basic foundation of this selection centers on the fact that our members dedicate a good part of their existence toward the betterment of others and if those members learn to take care of themselves just a little better, the service to others can be improved. So part of the week will be spent learning about how we can include the priority of wellness to ourselves as a bigger part of our lives.
The keynote speaker will be Chris Crowley, the author of Younger Next Year, a book that is an easy read and one that we ask all attendees to bring to the conference. Please note that there is a male and female version of the book so please read the correct one!
There will be a presenter on the topic of personal fitness and this will be a participatory session to demonstrate the fact that one does not need to be in a formal exercise program at a specialized location to improve wellness.
We will be honored to have Sarah Jerome as both a fellow and a presenter. Sarah has earned the role of AASA President and is a strong advocate for child safety and health.
Joe Wiegand, utilizing the character of Teddy Roosevelt, will weigh in on the topic of public education and I am told that personal wellness will be a necessity to put up with some of his constructive criticism of our work.
Ed Turzanski, an ex-CIA agent will talk about security in schools and will catch our attention with details of what can only be described as an interesting occupation.
Steve Gilliland is tentatively scheduled to present on the topic of a meaningful life in that everything we do matters! He will talk about family, friends and the importance of networking. Anyone who has attended FIEL or IDEA conferences will vouch for that particular topic.
We are also finalizing one or two presentations by fellows on the topics of brain research and the darker side of technology.
As per input at the last evaluation session, the registration form has a place for a shirt size. If you complete that part of the form, there will be a shirt made for you at a cost of twenty dollars.
The conference will begin on
Sunday evening, July 13th and will end on that Friday, July
18th. Whereas this letter is designed for previously
attending fellows, I am not going to go into detail on what to bring and
how to get to
In addition to social activities, there will be a slate of organized recreational activities, one that fits within our theme.
Registration forms must be returned by June 1, 2008. We are spending more money on presenters this year so it is vital that registration forms and payment be completed as soon as possible. We also may be expanding in numbers this year and there are a limited number of dorm rooms available. Please do not intend to attend and be shut out by the fact that we have filled all available rooms.
This letter is already too long so I will end with a thank you for your trust in the committee and a promise that this summer’s conference will be excellent.
Arthur DiBenedetto,
F.I.E.L. Conference Director
for the 2008 Conference Agenda
Please download the
application,
fill it out in full, and either e-mail it to
adibenedetto@netcongschool.org,
or print it out and mail it to:
Art DiBenedetto
759 Valley Road
Gillette, NJ 07933
CLICK HERE for the
Microsoft Word Version
CLICK HERE for the
Adobe PDF Version
