ActivatEE

ActivatEE was presented live on Friday, November 15th. 

WATCH THE 2024 RECORDING

A very special thank you to volunteer coaches Deidra Goodwin, Brian Croft, Will Marble, Chris Ortiz, Michelle Pagano, Margaret Kelso, Steve Sassaman, Renee Roark, and Kathy Chau Rohn & Rachel Hunsell. Their dedication has allowed these stories to be heard.

Jo Lee

An experienced educator, researcher, consultant and mentor who is a passionate advocate for creativity, having worked in outstanding organisations across the UK, South East Asia and the Middle East. Jo has developed Performing Arts pedagogy in top schools around the world. She has presented her research at the World Alliance for Arts Education (Frankfurt 2019), IDiERI 10 (Warwick 2022) and Drama New Zealand (2023). She works in the UK and internationally to enhance learning and build creative opportunities for increased engagement and reflection. Jo is a Project Manager for IVE, a creativity charity based in Yorkshire. She is experienced in project coordination, stakeholder-engagement and communication. 

As an Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner, Jo uses the energy system in the body to release negative emotions. Being half English and half Chinese-Malaysian, Jo loves to travel and explore different cultures and has loved visiting different areas of America for AEE conferences. 

Kaileigh Hennard

Kaileigh was born and raise in Bedford, England. Her love of travel and the outdoors grew from her childhood spent out in the English countryside. In 2002, her family uprooted, and moved across the pond to the USA. In her 20 years, She has gained a passion for nature, education, and the pursuit of curiosity.

Kaileigh, studied outdoor recreation at Central Michigan University, and then went on to receive her Masters from Ohio University with a focus in ecotourism. Through her Masters program, she gained a love for international travel, and leadership development. Kaileigh has worked as an experiential educator all around the USA and Europe, while helping her students explore their own curiosity. In her down time, Kaileigh enjoys a good beer, gallivanting around the world, enjoying pasta, roller skating, canoeing and singing every Disney song that comes her way. 

Karen Yescavage

Karen Yescavage, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology and coordinates an interdisciplinary Creative Wellness minor at Colorado State University Pueblo. She enjoys various forms of creative expression such as improvisation, mural painting, sound baths, and alcohol ink art-making. 

She co-founded Storytellers of the Ancestral Red Road (SOAR) to provide Indigenous educational and artistic programming to promote cross-cultural understanding and community healing. She engages in arts-based, qualitative research to document the healing power of the arts. She built her strawbale home and is currently turning an old grain silo into an art studio. She loves living in Southern Colorado with her spouse and dogs. 

Nick Magle-Haberek

Nick Magle-Haberek is the co-founder of Adventure Therapist LLC and owner and therapist of Movemental Wellbeing. He is passionate about the fields of Adventure therapy, experiential education and rubber chicken wizardry. Throughout his career he has logged hundreds of days in the wilderness, on the ropes course, and off the therapy couch.  

Outside of his work, he is a runner, hiker, mountain biker, paddler, skier, group juggle enthusiast and nature lover. Living in the seacoast of New Hampshire, Nick is a husband and father to two kids, one dog, one cat, two dozen chickens and few thousand honeybees.  

Narineh Gharashor

Narineh Gharashor, an accomplished school leader and founder of WholisticEdu, brings a wealth of expertise as a consultant and coach specializing in healing-centered leadership and holistic wellness in education. Her personal and professional experiences with trauma have shaped her commitment to helping leaders and educators create supportive environments where students can truly thrive. She uses experiential learning in her approach and considers herself an adventurer, always seeking out new experiences through travel and a deep connection with nature.

Drawing from decades of experience in both traditional and non-traditional educational settings worldwide, Narineh’s mission is to help people feel whole. With advanced degrees in education and policy, she combines her academic background with real-world experiences to design resources, professional development programs, and retreats that focus on health, wellness, personal and professional growth. She believes that healing is key to restoring trust and equity in schools, and she equips educators and leaders with practical tools to foster safe, nurturing spaces where students can learn, grow, and heal.

Christine Brice-Nelson

Christine Brice-Nelson is currently a mom of two boys living in Mancos, CO where she is the Director of School Community Youth Collaborative. She was raised in Arlington Heights, IL and obtained her B.A. in Biology from Lawrence University in WI. Her love for the outdoors has brought her to guide in places like Alaska, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. 

Working with and for young people is her true passion and she has spent the last ten years of her life working in the non-profit sector for youth serving organizations. She loves connecting with others, the Wisconsin Badgers, supporting fishing and elk scouting excursions with her family and going on long hikes. She hopes one day to float down Labyrinth canyon with her family of four in canoes. She will always be an advocate for youth and her community, working to make the world a better place with and for them.

Asnoldo (Oz) Benitez

Asnoldo would like to begin by mentioning the formative landscapes of both his and his parent's youth: From the Intermountain west--this includes the western slope of the Teton Range, the Snake river plain, and its volcanic basalt aquifer. From the Northern tip of South America, lake Maracaibo - a large tidal bay of the Caribbean Sea, and the Maracaibo lowlands.

Asnoldo considers himself a deep thinker, reflective participant, and committed community member. A youth empowerment educator in the naturalist fields of conservation, education, and recreation Asnoldo earned a Master of Science in Natural Science Ed and Environment and Natural Resources from the University of Wyoming. In his free time he bikes, hikes, cooks, plays in the surrounding waters, and dreams of curious worlds that could be.

Drafting your ActivatEE Talk:

• This platform invites you, the speaker, to share a story or idea through the use of voice, during a 7-9 minute mini-keynote to the global audience of the International Conference. Listen to dozens of stories told in the past on our AEE YouTube Channel!
• Think of an instance in time where you had an experience that became a profound teaching moment for you, which truly influenced or altered your way of thinking or being. Are you able and willing to share that message with others?
• Now visualize how you would want to share that story in terms of keynote address. What did you hear, see, notice, and experience at that moment that had an immediate impact or had influence years down the road? Is there a method in your delivery that helps convey your message?

Answer these three questions:

• What? what is your story? what happened?
• So what? Why is it important or developmental to you? What meaning did you take from it?
• Now what? How have you moved forward or how do you plan to use this going forward? What is the transformation? How are you changed?

Considerations: 

Your initial submission will likely not be your exact final presentation. This is just the first step in a number of iterations that you and your presentation will go through before delivering the final presentation. 

Please note that these stories are to be an experience relevant to your perspective. You can certainly use bits of research to support your message, but this is not to be a research paper or a business promotion. We will really push all presenters to constantly evaluate their message, knowing we want to channel a lesson learned to activate the minds of those in the audience.   

The Process:

• The process of developing your story is facilitated by a coach who will walk your journey with you, enabling you to craft your story, and help you prepare to share at the Conference. Each story is typically 7-9 minutes (don’t worry-we’ll help you get there!).
  • 2025 Coaches: Deidra Goodwin, Brian Croft, Will Marble, Chris Ortiz, Michelle Pagano, Rachel Hunsell
  • Questions? Contact Deidra at deidra@dgoodwinexperiential.com 
• The application creates space for you to share your experience and story, as well as submit additional documents like presentation drafts, story maps, and more.
• A team will review the submissions and send out acceptance notices by June 28.
• If accepted, you will be paired with a coach/coaches. This process asks that you meet on a regular basis with your coaches to support the development of your story and presentation.  These sessions are designed to provide an environment to explore your story, hone in on your answers to What? So what? and Now What?, and give and receive feedback and suggestions regarding the delivery of the presentations.
• A virtual dress rehearsal will take place leading up to the Conference and in-person dress rehearsal will also take place the night before the ActivatEE presentation. As an ActivatEE speaker, we want you to feel supported and connected to the other  ActivatEE speakers and coaches. For this reason, you will be asked to attend an initial welcome session on Zoom for all ActivatEE speakers and coaches, followed by at least 2-3 coaching sessions with your assigned coach(es) on Zoom in September and October to refine and prepare your ActivatEE talk. The purpose of these coaching sessions is to provide feedback and suggestions regarding the content and delivery of your talk. 
  

Please note: ActivatEE speakers will need to register for the conference as attendees. Financial Support and Scholarships for the conference Registration are available. We do not want the cost of the conference to prevent anyone from being part of ActivatEE. 

Resources for Speakers