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Hope to See You In Kansas…the “Land of Ahhhs!”
Whether or not you liked the recent movie August Rush (reviews were mixed), you had to admit to being moved by the stunning photography in the opening scene: an orphaned boy stands in a wheat field conducting a symphony only he can hear. The wheat moves in endlessly shifting rhythms and the camera work spins you dizzy with the splendor of it all. “The music is all around us,” the boy says. “All you have to do is listen.”
Kansas is like that. Unexpected beauty is all around, and all you have to do is look.
“For those of you who have never been to Kansas, and especially for all of you whose only glimpse of Kansas has been your drive across I-70, boy are you in for an amazing surprise!” announced Laura Downey. As executive director of the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE), Downey introduced NAAEE members to the beauty of her state with a short slide show at the 2007 Awards Lunch in Virginia Beach. The presentation by the following year’s host is NAAEE’s traditional handoff from one conference planning team to the next. “We’ll finally be able to dispel the myth that Kansas is flat,” Downey said. “In fact, you’ll see the breath-taking, rolling Flinthills of Kansas, home to one of the only remaining stands of native tallgrass prairie – the world’s most endangered ecosystem.”
In fact, it’s the tallgrass prairie that intrigues and excites most people planning to attend the conference. But that’s not all Kansas has to offer…there are two wetlands of international significance, and in October, we’ll be on hand to witness the height of migratory bird season in the central flyway. We certainly expect all our members who are birders to flock to Kansas (pun intended).
Kansas isn’t just the fabled Land of Oz…according to Downey, it’s also the “Land of Ahhhs!”
Eight strands will offer new topics for conversation and learning, as well as traditional subjects that members rely on NAAEE to include. Each of the 2008 issues of the Communicator will highlight a few of the following strands
Art, Culture, and Environmental Education
Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education
Conservation Education
Energy Education
Environmental Justice, Environmental Health, and Climate Change
Food, Agriculture and Environmental Education
- Religion, Spirituality, and Environmental Education
Contributor to this story included Laura Downey (ldowney@kacee.org).