USA Coordinator's Conference and Training
Mon Aug. 3, 2015
to Fri Aug. 7, 2015
Quartz Mountain Resort Arts & Conference Center | 22469 Lodge Road Lone Wolf, OK 73655
DOCUMENTS
Sizing Chart For Vests (215.96 KB) - 2015 Project WET USA Conference Agenda (Updated!) (347.82 KB)
- Presentations Agenda (Updated!) (327.77 KB)
- Shuttle Times (Updated!) (307.62 KB)
Whether in classrooms or boardrooms, water education helps people of all ages understand pressing water issues, allowing ordinary citizens to contribute to real-world solutions in their communities. Hosted by water education leader the Project WET Foundation, the USA Annual Coordinator’s Conference and Training will take place in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma from August 3-7, 2015 at the scenic Quartz Mountain Resort Arts and Conference Center.
The Project WET USA Annual Conference and Training will include the annual USA business meeting for Project WET Coordinators and offer trainings and content sessions through presentations and discussions on relevant water education topics.
Agenda Overview
Closed meetings for Project WET USA Host Institutions and Coordinators only will be held on August 3rd and 4th. Following these closed meetings, open sessions will take place August 5th through 7th.
August 3: New Coordinator Training. (While open to all Project WET Coordinators, New Coordinator Training is specifically designed to help new coordinators set up their own program and learn about the Project WET USA network.) Please let Project WET know if you plan to attend the New Coordinator Training by emailing wetusa@projectwet.org.
August 4: Closed USA Coordinator Field Experience at Hackberry Flat Wildlife Management Area and USA Business Meeting
August 5-6: The final closed session for the USA Coordinators Business Meeting will be held the morning of August 5th. Open sessions and presentations will take place after lunch on August 5th and all day August 6th. The Conference Closing Dinner will be in the evening on August 6th.
August 7: Optional field experience to Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. This experience is limited to the first 30 people who sign up. There is no charge for attending, but participants need to bring money for lunch.
Cost and Logistics
The cost for Project WET USA Coordinators to attend the entire conference is $360 and includes most meals (Monday breakfast/lunch and Tuesday dinner is on your own). The cost for participating in the content sessions only from August 5-7 is $220 and includes all meals Wednesday through Friday morning. Payment can be made by credit card or check. PayPal processes credit cards orders for us however you DO NOT NEED A PAYPAL ACCOUNT to pay by credit card. The deadline for registration is July 15, 2015.
Lodging is not included but has been negotiated at a rate of $99 per night. Participants must book their own rooms at Quartz Mountain. (To cut costs, you can choose to share a room with others, as all rooms are double occupancy.) Call Quartz Mountain at (877) 999-5567 and ask for the Project WET rate.Download the 2015 Project WET USA Conference Agenda that includes a schedule of meals under Documents.
Quartz Mountain is located in southwestern Oklahoma, 2.5 hours from Oklahoma City. Transportation from Oklahoma City Will Rogers Airport is provided courtesy of Project WET Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. The approximate shuttle times are available to download under Documents.
Additional Information
Featured Reading
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan is a book that takes readers into the stories of the Dust Bowl storms of the 1930s. The Project WET USA Conference and Training will have speakers and sessions that focus on the Dust Bowl and relate it to extreme weather events in current times. Conference participants are encouraged to read the book for context and to learn a little Oklahoma history. To learn more, check out the NPR story on The Worst Hard Time.
"The Worst Hard Time is an epic story of blind hope and endurance almost beyond belief; it is also, as Tim Egan has told it, a riveting tale of bumptious charlatans, conmen, and tricksters, environmental arrogance and hubris, political chicanery, and a ruinous ignorance of nature's ways. Egan has reached across the generations and brought us the people who played out the drama in this devastated land, and uses their voices to tell the story as well as it could ever be told."—Marq de Villiers, author of Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource
Additional resources: NY Times Review
Project WET Coordinators Silent Auction
Please bring something to contribute (and your money to bid in the auction!) for the Project WET USA Silent Auction. Proceeds go to providing scholarships for the 2016 Project WET USA Conference—it could be YOU needing a scholarship in 2016! Ideally, we are looking for water and other environmental education-related items (fun and functional). Think about bringing a basket representing the best of your state. Let’s make this the best silent auction ever!
Email Project WET at wetusa@projectwet.org for more information.