BACK TO NEWS | 14th Annual WISE Conference View photos from the conference On Friday, April 1, 2005 WISE Services held its 14th Annual Conference at Peekskill. Hosted by the Peekskill WISE/Peekskill Individualized Experience under the direction of co-coordinators Allison Risoli and Dot Bertram, the conference was held at the Paramount Center for the Arts and the Westchester Community College Peekskill Extension Center. Approximately 100 people representing 17 different high schools listened to Dave Marcus, Woodlands WISE '78 speak about his WISE project in journalism and his career as a journalist and Pulitzer-Prize winning author. Dave described the work that went into his latest book, What It Takes to Pull Me Through - Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of them Got Out and how this work is an extension of his WISE project. He also indicated that he is looking for some interns! Participants attended workshops on Introduction to WISE, Task Force Renewal, WISE Classes, Discovering Your Passion and WISE Student Roundtable. They listened to a panel consisting of three Peekskill graduates from the Class of 2000, Martin Oballa, Jaimie Zimmerman, and Amanda Luria. For the finale, three current Peekskill students presented their video about the program in Peekskill. Genner Villon, Nya Joseph, and Jorge Herrera did a great job and their work was well appreciated by the audience. Everyone said they had a great day. Evaluation forms had comments like: "This was a wonderful morning!" "I learned what other schools are doing." "I valued having the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas, experiences, etc." "The sharing of ideas is very important for success." "As a mentor, I will not give up on my student. We still have time left for me to get him into shape." "The workshops were very informative. It was very good to see a lot of people in the same 'boat' as myself." "It's very important to share ideas and hear stories you thought were only your's." "I learned about the importance of Task Force and great ideas" " I valued the contacts I made with teachers from other districts." "The workshops were incredibly interesting and eye-opening." "I loved both workshops. I am usually very shy, but they allowed me to open up." "I loved this conference. It's a great way to define WISE." We hope your school team will be able to join us for next year's conference! |