ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Early childhood educators and care providers are always looking for improving their time with their young charges, and soon, they will have a chance for just that in Liberal.
The Southwest Kansas Early Childhood Conference, themed ‘Out of the Box’ for this year, will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26 in the Seward County Community College Student Union at 1801 N. Kansas Ave. and will feature speaker Cari Ebert. The cost is $30 per person, and that includes both sessions and a lunch that will be provided.
Coordinator Norma Jean Dodge said the conference will be a great opportunity for those who come.
“Cari Ebert does a lot of great work in early childhood development. She's going to be presenting two sessions, 'The Digital Dilemma' and 'The Power of Play-Based Learning.' With 'The Digital Dilemma,' that's going to talk about young children and screen time and what's beneficial and what's not, which I know is a big topic among parents in more modern times,” Dodge said. “With 'The Power of Play-Based Learning,' she's going to be talking about coming up with different activities childcare providers/educators to help children tap into their creativity and curiosity. This is our third year offering the Southwest Kansas Early Childhood Conference. We are under the Liberal Area Coalition for Families and part of the Southwest Kansas Early Childhood Coalition, and we meet monthly and plan events. We also host other seminars and other events to help people get some clock hours.”
Dodge said turnout to past events has been high, and she hopes to see that trend continue with next weekend’s event.
“When the Southwest Kansas Early Childhood Coalition started, it started because people were wanting those in-person trainings. There were multiple opportunities for online training/classes, but this is a chance to bring people together, talk and network and talk shop,” Dodge said. “I know one of the first conferences, we brought in someone who talked about autism, and there was so much great discussion there – so much so, in fact, it had to be cut off somewhat early in order to move on to the other session that was scheduled for that day. But it was great seeing those participants build up those networks and be able to share. It's always great to come together with other people in your field, because maybe there's something you're struggling with that someone could help you with, or maybe you end up helping someone who's struggling with something you recently came across. It's always great being able to share that information in a group and help each other. We will also have a Spanish translator available for those who need it, and they do an amazing job.”
Overall, Dodge said, the main goal of the conference is education.
“I really hope our participants can apply these lessons very quickly and easily to their work and maybe even share it with others,” Dodge said. “Especially with early childhood development, people are looking for trainings and information to help them in their work, and this is a great opportunity for them to do that. And Cari Ebert is an amazing speaker, I know some people who have seen her talk before, and they've been totally complimentary about her, so she'll be great. People want to gain this knowledge and know they're being a good influence on their young charges, and we want to help provide those tools. We also wanted to provide opportunities for these trainings so people wouldn't have to do a lot of excess traveling or do it online, and we're able to do this because of a grant we received, which we're very grateful for.”
Dodge added she is very excited for the conference.
“We've had multiple comments from people in town about offering opportunities like this, so this is a great chance for people to not only learn from this training, but also maybe give us some ideas about potential future trainings we could host,” Dodge said. “We want to make sure we're providing these opportunities in the area and fulfilling those needs. These people are excited to get together and talk shop and learn along the way, and we want to be part of that in any way possible, that's what our office is for. And we're happy to offer these trainings here in town because not everyone has the chance to travel to Wichita or Denver or Kansas City or some other bigger city where trainings like this are typically hosted, especially if you work as a daycare provider or in the school system. We're also especially thankful for the grants that allow us to bring these speakers to Liberal to share this information.”
For those wanting to participate, Dodge said they need to do so soon.
“Anyone wanting to pre-register would need to call our office at (620) 417-1170 or email
The availability of these trainings, especially in a more isolated area like Southwest Kansas, is extremely important, Dodge said.
“Like I said earlier, not everyone has the opportunity to travel for trainings or events like this due to whatever circumstances they're dealing with, so it's important for us to have these opportunities locally. And some businesses can't afford to let their employees off for multiple days at a time to travel for opportunities like this, so if they're able to stay right in town, that makes it easier for everyone,” Dodge said. “If there's some type of training people want, all they need to do is get in touch with us, and we'll do what we can to make it happen in terms of finding the right people and those other logistical details. We used to do a lot of trainings for electrical/plumbing work, but it can be hard to find those instructors, and that's something we're working on. The past few events we've done, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about how everything ended up, and it's great seeing all the participants interacting with each other. I'm really excited to see how this turns out, I think the participants will learn a lot from Cari, and I think it'll be just an overall great experience for everyone who ends up coming out that day.”
