✨ Thank You for Launching Something Extraordinary: ISEEN’s Inaugural Catalyst Institute✨ 

Last month, something remarkable happened high in the Rocky Mountains. Thirty-five visionary school leaders from 14 schools across the United States gathered in Estes Park, Colorado, for the inaugural ISEEN Catalyst Institute—a five-day immersive retreat designed to unite, empower, and activate change-makers ready to bring experiential learning from the periphery to the core of their schools.

With sweeping views of snow-capped mountains and around fireside conversations, participants explored what bold, mission-driven school transformation can look like. They left not only inspired, but equipped—with personalized action plans, practical leadership tools, and monthly coaching cohorts to ensure that real change takes root in their school communities.

We have some updates on the development of ISEEN’s new program: ISEEN Catalyst Institute. Yes, you heard it first here, we have an official name! The Save the Date email announcing the location and dates is coming later this month. 

We will be launching the application process in April, with early access for folks who expressed a keen interest in the new program and ISEEN Member Schools. Here is a short description of the Institute to pique your interest:

November 1, 2024

It is our honor to introduce the newly formed Institute for Experiential Education Integration Design Team and Project Manager. Thanks to a generous grant from the EE Ford Foundation, we have hired this outstanding part-time team, who will collaborate on a design sprint to create the new IEEI in under six months.

Message from the ISEEN Board Chair - Charlie Noyes

Now in my fourth decade of teaching at a well-resourced and intellectually challenging independent school, I can recall many conversations with colleagues that revolved around our concerns over what we were and were not teaching our students.  When we transcended the specifics of our respective disciplines and honestly questioned the practical depth and functional “value-added” of our classroom teaching, we wondered out loud just how effectively we were preparing our young charges to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving world.  Academically we were covering our bases quite well, but to what extent were we building in and teaching such things as common sense, reasoning & logic, tenacity, effective communication & cooperation skills, and grit – concepts now annoyingly referred to as 21st century soft skills. 

ISEEN friends:

Like many of you, we at ISEEN were shocked and dismayed by yesterday's attacks on our democracy. As experiential educators, we are entrusted with educating the next generation of citizens, and our practice is a cornerstone in upholding that democracy. We believe that yesterday's events are a reminder of the work we must continue to do, including making necessary changes to champion social justice and racial equity within education. We condemn the violent actions of the mob that sought to undermine our democratic system and the peaceful transition to power.

Dear ISEEN Friends,

We are excited to announce a strategic partnership with the JUMP! Foundation, an organization whose mission closely aligns with, and meaningfully complements ISEEN’s. The JUMP! Foundation's mission is concise but powerful: 

• Inspire individuals through transformational experiences
• Empower individuals with skills and resources to create positive impact
• Engage individuals with local and global communities

Hello ISEEN Friends,
We will be hosting two webinars to introduce you to Thrively. ISEEN has partnered with Thrively in an effort to provide members information about a unique tool to help your schools. JeffMcConaghy (you might remember him from Winter Institutes in Hawaii and Cleveland), Thrively’s Chief Educational Officer, will be facilitating both sessions. Continue reading for a full description of the webinars and for registration information. 

Experientially yours,
Team ISEEN

Dear ISEEN Community,

We write to revisit our Values amidst the national and global uprisings against state violence and anti-Blackness. We know that education and action go hand-in-hand; that is precisely the root of our organization and its mission. ISEEN is committed to social justice in any form and feels the ever-present need for anti-racist activism and racial justice at this moment. We also urge our community members and students to speak out against racism and strive to be anti-racist.

Dear Friends,

As this peculiar school year winds down, so will our weekly emails and Zoom sessions. Soon you will receive our quarterly newsletter (June 3) and perhaps some timely social media posts about our Summer Online Teachers Institute, but the weekly emails we’ve been sending since March 26 will be taking a break. We hope that the ongoing communication over the last few months has provided some personal and professional support. Seeing and hearing from you has certainly kept us motivated. The months ahead are going to be challenging because of the uncertainty we all face in the fall and beyond, this is true here at ISEEN too. It is our sincere hope to reconnect with all of you with announcements about Winter Institute and Regional Expeditions and to learn about all of the wonderful ways you have continued to enrich the lives of your students and your school communities. Embracing challenges and navigating dissonance is what we do, and in that, we should all find comfort - because we know that challenges and difficulty are inevitable, we also know that you folks are well equipped to handle them. We have done our best, and will continue to do all that we can!

Dear Friends,

The week of May 26th will mark the end of over two months of free programming that we have made available to our members with the help of some great friends and members of ISEEN.  We have worked hard to be responsive to the needs of our membership, offering opportunities for sharing, brainstorming, learning and just being together.  Next week we are offering a culmination to this extraordinary time with our final two Zoom sessions, dedicated to the most critical elements of experiential education: reflecting, conceptualizing and experimenting after our unexpected shared experience.  

Dear Friends,

“Covid fatigue” is real!  It is being experienced by all of us in very different ways, and rears its ugly head in waves of intensity.  Here at ISEEN we are acutely aware of it and are planning a few sessions for next week that will hopefully provide some insight and relief. 

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, this week is “Teacher Appreciation Week” in the United States, and the folks at ISEEN have recorded a special greeting to reinforce how much we appreciate and value all of you educators!  You are doing great things in challenging times - we see you and acknowledge your hard work!

https://vimeo.com/415255487/ec36df8646

Dear Friends,

Here we are again, sending you ISEEN love and support. We keep asking ourselves, what now? Dave Mochel (keynote at the Winter Institute in 2018) addresses this question in his recent article:

Dear Friends,
These are strange times. These are especially strange times for experiential educators. The last thing we thought we’d be doing was teaching online or planning for an online experiential educator workshop.

As experiential educators, what we do have are the skills to weather these times; the flexibility, growth-mindset, vulnerability, adaptability, collaboration, belief in the power of community, passion, reflective nature, and the tools to teach independent thinking and inquiry.

This is hard. It is hard for me personally, it is hard for ISEEN and it is hard as a parent and a partner. Yes, we are extremely privileged, we have a house over our heads, food, nearby parks, access to health care and yet it still feels like a huge dark cloud over my head with the ever-present worry. Will my parents be okay? Will my daughter get to start kindergarten in the fall? Will our organization survive? What will the next two years look like? What will the world be like when this is over? Will it ever be over?

Subject: ISEEN Community Support in the time of COVID-19 (weekly updates)
Send date: April 16, 2020

Dear Friends,

Dear Friends,

In an effort to be responsive and supportive of our membership during the current public health crisis that is affecting the world, and specifically our membership in unprecedented ways, we have decided to curate a weekly communication containing information about events and resources we hope will be helpful. 

Please remember ISEEN is first and foremost a community of people dedicated to meaningful education and we are all in service of a better future.  As part of this network, let’s each one of us be generous and share resources and ideas. Toward that end we have added several discussion topics (risk management/insurance, DEI, Ex Ed online) to the Member Center as a place for folks to seek feedback and share resources. The more actively people engage in the forums, the more useful they will become. Additionally, we have been adding articles to the ISEEN Bibliohive (new additions are always welcome), and reaching out to various ISEEN partners to collaborate. 

Finally, know that we are learning as we go, and we always welcome feedback and suggestions - we are striving to model experiential learning and challenging ourselves to think differently, take risks and pivot accordingly - your continued support means more than you know.