Alumni from the Queen’s Trent Concurrent Education made a special visit to campus this past weekend to participate in “The Classroom and Beyond” professional learning program, sponsored by the Queen’s Trent Concurrent Education Students’ Association (CESA).

The program offered a line-up of dynamic speakers from across the province including keynote speaker David Thomas, Director of the Upper Canada District School Board. Thomas, a Trent alum who also serves on Trent’s Board of Governors, addressed the topic of Planting an Oak Tree in his remarks, highlighting the impact teachers have on their students.

The Queen’s-Trent Concurrent Education Program was established in 1973 to maintain the tradition of teacher education in Peterborough following the closure of the former Peterborough Teacher’s College.

David Thomas, Director of the Upper Canada District School Board

Students in the Queen’s-Trent program and many of the speakers who participated in the conference have benefited from the interdisciplinary approaches that are the foundation of the Trent educational experience, often pursuing interesting combinations of teachable subjects such as English and Biology.

One of the workshop presenters, Catherine Barry, was a member of one of the first Queen’s-Trent graduating class. A well-respected teacher with broad international experience, Barry works at a Toronto school where she is collaborating on a long-term action research project using photojournalism as a way of connecting student learning to their community environment.

Presenters included:

- Naomi Nichols whose doctoral work at York University examines students at risk
- Jacob Rodenburg, executive director of Camp Kawartha who discussed the attributes of the new Camp Kawartha Environment Centre
- Kelly Dear, whose work focuses on a “Culture of Care”
- And a graduate panel composed of Dyanne Mcdonald, Laura Tosky, Mike Heffernan and Sarah Tye.

Other workshop sessions included teachers and agencies in the local community, who are important partners of the Queen’s-Trent partnership. Representatives from Frontier College, the Learning Disabilities Association of Peterborough, and Champions of Youth discussed teaching-related volunteer opportunities, and Rob Lewis, a teacher with PVNCC provided a practical presentation on meeting special needs in the classroom.

Over 140 students, teachers, alumni, professionals and partners attended the learning program which was held at Gzowski College.

“The CESA executive played an active role in ensuring the conference ran smoothly,” said Fiona White, program coordinator for Queen’s-Trent concurrent education. “On behalf of our program, I would like to extend our gratitude to our alumni for participating in this program which we hope to replicate next year under our students’ leadership.”