National Association for Education of Young Children Conference

Julie Bostrom, Preschool Director had the opportunity to attend this annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference provided useful and helpful information with so many different trainings offered. Julie brought back valuable information to share with the teaching staff that will enhance their curriculum, help promote positive relationships for children and adults, and find ways to foster all areas of children’s development. “Being able to attend the conference and meet other directors from around the country gave me ideas that will enhance the Preschool and make it as best as it can be”, said Julie.

New York State Wildlife Rehabilitation Council Conference

Liam Shortt, Roaring Brook Nature Center Animal Care Curator attended the New York State Wildlife Rehabilitation Council Conference in Syracuse, NY. Liam learned the about the latest advancements with wound care, tube feeding and even how to fix broken or damaged feathers on raptors. Liam brought back so much useful information which helps the Wildlife Clinic and new Raptor Shed.

The New England Museum Association Conference

This yearly conference brings together creative, knowledgeable, and experienced minds of the science, math, children’s, history and art museums from across New England to meet, learn and share ideas. Four Children’s Museum staff members traveled to Portland, Maine to attend sessions, plus they led their own session on our successful “Bringing STEAM to Hartford Neighborhoods” initiative and its continuing impacts on the Hartford community and beyond. With over 80 people in attendance at their session, it sparked conversations about what issues their neighborhoods were facing and how to form partnerships to meet those community needs. Debra Vazquez writes, “It was great to share this model with others and show what can happen when you think outside your museum’s walls.” We can’t wait to see the Neighborhoods model applied in communities across New England.

Kim Read says, “NEMA was a wonderful opportunity to meet other museum professionals and learn about all the cool things they are doing. It was fun to see how even though we have may have different focuses, there is a lot of overlap and sharing to be done.”

Association of Science and Technology Center’s Conference

Kim Read, our Director of Education, attended the conference which was held in Charlotte, NC with thousands of attendees from all over the world. Kim had the opportunity to present a poster on the Museum’s "Bringing STEAM to Hartford Neighborhoods" initiative to share how other organizations could apply the model to engage underserved communities. She also spoke as a case study at a session with BirdBrain Technologies to discuss the Museum’s use of their Finch robots to engage families in STEAM programming. Kim was excited to share the good work that the Museum has been doing, connect with other Museum professionals and bring back lots of new ideas to share with the team.