3 minute read
Summer Board Meeting Highlights
Summer Board Meeting Highlights
by Sara Krauskopf, District 5
The WSST Board held its summer meeting at the beautiful Prairie Springs Environmental Center near Delafield in June. Here are some highlights (full board minutes are here)!
1. This year WSST is revising its strategic plan, so we spent considerable time discussing revisions to our mission, vision and goals for the next few years. We came up with 3 main areas of focus:
Marketing in new ways to increase membership and understanding of the value of WSST
Building on the success of WSST professional development offerings;
Organizational growth including recruitment to serve with the organization and financial sustainability. The strategic plan committee will refine the notes from these discussions and more formal statements will be shared with the board and membership in the future.
2. We discussed WINGS, a professional development offering in the summer, sponsored by WSST. 32 participants were signed up to attend in July at Lowenwood (the Conserve School campus) in Land O’ Lakes. This opportunity will continue in future years.
3. We discussed many opportunities to get involved with WSST. Check out the following:
· Run for office! The District 5 Director position, along with others, will be open soon. The Director position represents science educator in their district at monthly virtual board meetings, and at three in-person meetings each year (with virtual options available). This is a fantastic leadership opportunity where you can help to promote, improve and support science education in the state.
· Are you social media savvy? A lot of our strategic plan discussion focused on ways to reach our membership through evolving social media platforms. There are opportunities to help with conferences, "newsletters" in a new format, membership and marketing of the organization. Join a committee and please help us with your expertise!
· We are looking for someone to chair the 2026 WSST conference in Appleton! Contact Ray Scolavino if you are interested.
· Invite a colleague to join WSST or come to the next conference! Word of mouth is one of our best recruitment tools. Administrators too! Next conference is April 18-24, 2024 in LaCrosse! Get your subs lined up soon!
· Participate in a yearlong project to compile high quality phenomena and data sets relevant to Wisconsin students. District 5 is spearheading this initiative to modify existing national storylines to include material more relevant to WI students, but all members are welcome if you are willing to commit to work with us throughout the year. Contact Sara Krauskopf, District 5 Director to get involved. district5@wsst.org
