Renewal for Teachers/Aroostook County Workshops
Contact: Douglas G. Babkirk, (207) 712-1414
Portage, ME—University of Maine Cooperative Extension has extended its deadline to May 29 for accepting applications for its first Courage to Teach® series. The weekend retreat workshops are scheduled for five weekends at Hewes Brook Lodge in Portage, beginnin Oct. 23. The series, which will bring continuing education credits to those who participate, is open to 13 K-12 teachers and college faculty members from anywhere in Maine. It represents an opportunity for educators ands chool administrators to renew their personal and professional lives.
UMaine Cooperative Extension, which is organizing the program, has chosen Aroostook County as the first site for the series. The University of Maine at Fort Kent and the University of Maine at Presque Isle are partners in the effort to market the program to educators throughout Maine. Registration deadline is May 29.
UMaine Cooperative Extension and the University of Maine System chancellor’s office are sponsors of the program. Total cost for each educator accepted into the Courage to Teach® program, including meals and lodging, is $500. Efforts are now underway to attract additional funding from local school districts, area businesses and foundations to underwrite the balance of costs for running the program.
The three facilitators are University of Maine faculty members affiliated with the National Center for Courage & Renewal – which developed the national Courage to Teach® initiative. They are Shirley Hager of Chesterville, Richard Ackerman of Brooksville and Portland resident Doug Babkirk.
Teachers, school leaders and university faculty members interested in the Courage To Teach® Aroostook County program can contact Doug Babkirk at University of Maine Cooperative Extension at dbabkirk@umext.maine.edu or 712-1414.
For more than 90 years, University of Maine Cooperative Extension has supported UMaine’s land-grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine County. UMaine Extension programs areo pen and accessible to all in accordance with program goals.