|
On October 24, 2009 over sixty teachers, museum directors, and other educators came to the New York State Museum in Albany to celebrate "Waterways of New York State" at the NYGA sponsored GeoFest 2009. It was a great setting for a geographically-based conference. Not only were there workshops in classrooms, but the participants were able to see the wonderful exhibits about New York in the museum itself.
 
Photo on the left: Mary Liz Stewart discusses important people of the Capital District on the Underground Railroad; Photo on the Right: Participants in the Geography of Europe workshop (led by Gale Sookdeo on the right) put together a tile map of Europe
There were workshops for every grade level and for every interest. They included a workshop on wind power by Linda Armour, Geography Action! Europe workshops by Brooke Grant and Gale Sookdeo, workshops of spatial thinking (with maps) by Carol and Phil Germsehl, a geographic SMART board lesson by Jonathon Little, and an underground railroad lesson by Tim McDonnell. Three workshops were led by our Partners in Geography: Tricia Shaw (Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site), John Miller (Hudson River Maritime Museum), and Mary Liz Stewart (Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital District).
The day ended with a keynote address by Thomas Grasso of the Canal Society of New York State. He spoke about the five major obstacles for building the Erie Canal and how the engineers and workers overcame them. Before Tom spoke, the New York Geographic Alliance gave our third annual Virginia Figura Award to Mary Duffin, one of the original members of our Alliance (see photo on the left of Donna Merlau with Mary Duffin).
We want to thank Albert Gnidica of the NYS Museum for his invaluable assistance in helping us set up the conference, and the staff of Soxeho for the wonderful food served at breakfast and lunch. We were also very happy to have had vendors and non-profit exhibitors at GeoFest. Their displays added to the quality of the conference. The New York Geographic Alliance is tentatively planning GeoFest 2010 to coincide with the World Canal Conference, which will be held in Rochester on September 19 - 24, 2009. We hope to see you there! Keep this date open. |
Geography Awareness