Near the famous manatees of Kings Bay, PopEd’s second summer institute training was held on the Nature’s Coast of Florida at The Plantation, a 50-year old eco-friendly resort in the town of Crystal River.

Joining us at the Leadership Institute were 27 educators preparing to become future workshop facilitators. Most came from the host state of Florida, though Kansas and Georgia were represented as well. These educators represented various levels of education including K-12 teachers, curriculum developers, professors, and non-formal educators.

Throughout the day, participants partook in classroom activities, engaged in discussions surrounding population issues, and worked through varied workshop scenarios. One of the local favorites was PopEd’s activity “Panther Hunt,” as participants related to the many panthers that call Florida their home.

Great contributions were made on how to bring activities into different workshop settings and all walked away with a greater knowledge of PopEd workshops. The training concluded with a challenge to participants to create an agenda for a future PopEd workshop – and many already have plans to implement their creations!

One of the attendee’s wrote, “I loved the hands-on activities and modeling. So useful. This was one of the best professional developments I’ve attended.”

We are thankful for such dedicated volunteers in Florida and beyond and are looking forward to all the workshops our new facilitators will present at in the upcoming years! More information about our Trainers’ Network and Leadership Institutes is available here.