Join us for Virtual ParentCamp on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 8 pm ET/7 pm CT/ 6 pm MT/ 5 pm PT!
Join us for the first Virtual ParentCamp of 2025. Hope you all had a safe and merry break and were able to enjoy time with your families. If you are lucky enough to live in the Midwest or on the East coast, you may have also enjoyed some snow!!
This year, I’m excited to welcome new friends and reconnect with familiar faces at Virtual ParentCamp. Let’s make 2025 a year of meaningful dialogues, learning, and shared experiences. I look forward to getting to know each of you better and invite you to share your hopes, wishes, or a story about yourself in Mighty Networks.
Something new I learnt from ParentCamp is my ONE word. My word for this year is IMPACT, both to impact others positively and to be open to being impacted by those around me.
I know alot of us make resolutions for the New Year, however instead of resolutions my goal this year is to spend quality time with my family, especially my parents. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of daily life we forget the people that are always there for us. If you are lucky enough to have either of your parents still with you, make sure to make time in your day or week to connect with them. If you no longer have your parents among us, make time to cherish those family and friends still here before we only have memories and regrets!!
And this year, let’s make an IMPACT!! Big or small, it all matters!
Here’s to a year of connection, learning, and impact!
As always, we use Mighty Networks to safely connect with our parents and community. This space is for you to use to connect and share with our community nationwide and globally.
Register for Virtual ParentCamps on Mighty Networks, where you will find the Zoom link to join. We hope you are enjoying it as much as we are!
Register at: https://tinyurl.com/2025-01-15-vpc
You will be prompted to create an account on Mighty Networks when you register. Consider joining the Virtual ParentCamp space on Mighty Networks to stay connected to those you have met to keep conversations going.
Virtual ParentCamp Community on Mighty Networks
If you have issues registering on Mighty Networks, please complete this form and we will send you an invitation directly from Mighty Networks.
Room 1 Building a Safe Community for Kids Starts with Neighbors
Facilitator – Jennifer Prophete
Jennifer Prophete is the Director of The Hopeful Neighborhood Project. The Hopeful Neighborhood Project is dedicated to helping everyday neighbors pursue the common good, right where they live. Jennifer has spent 20 years working in the fields of urban education, community development, and non-profit leadership. As a native of rural Nebraska, she grew up with a strong sense of the power of community. Her desire to live in community, no matter the neighborhood context, has been a driving force in her life and work.
Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University-Nebraska in elementary education with certificates in English-as-an-Other-Language, special education, and early childhood education. She received an MBA from the University of Saint Mary. Jennifer and her husband live in Saint Charles, MO with their three young children and among their amazing neighbors.
Jennifer is also a part of the National Neighbor Day Project. Learn more here
Room 2 Can My Child Have a Career in Gaming?
Facilitator – John Pile Jr, (@johnpile) Engineering Director, Schell Games
John Pile Jr is Technical Director, Principal Engineering Manager at Schell Games.
John leads development teams, ensuring individuals are supported to think creatively, work inclusively, and build intelligently across disciplines in order to create delightful experiences! His focus is Software Engineering for Video Games, Digital Entertainment, and Interactive Story-Telling.He is the author of 2D Graphics Programming for Games (published 2014) and Game Development Tools, has taught University Courses, and presented at the Game Developer Conference.
Room 3 Mindful Self-Compassion: a New Year’s Gift to Yourself!
Facilitator: Dr Emily Howell (@Howells_Owls)
Emily is currently serving as a first-grade teacher and teacher leader in the North Kansas City School District. Her primary mission in the classroom is building students who are resilient, capable, and confident learners who show kindness to all, and she works to support that climate within her classroom and throughout her school community by sharing tools of resilience and mindfulness.
Prior to her return to the classroom, she was a District Continuous Improvement Consultant for the western half of Missouri, supporting teams of teachers and administrators in system-wide best practices to support high levels of achievement for all students. She has served in multiple teaching and administrative roles in both public and private schools in Missouri and Kansas. Along with supporting educators’ instructional practices, she is passionate about social-emotional learning and holistic wellness for all members of the school community, and provides yoga and mindfulness workshops for schools and non-profits across the Kansas City area.
Emily has been connected to the ParentCamp universe in some way or another- as a TwitterChat participant, a facilitator, a coach, and now as the Mighty Networks “guru”- since meeting Laura back at an EdCamp nearly a decade ago. As a full time public educator again, she deeply believes in the power of the kind of family-school-community engagement ParentCamp creates!I want to end with an invite to listen toThe ParentCamp Podcast. The ParentCamp Podcast, is a dynamic new platform to spark meaningful conversations among parents, educators, and communities. After months of preparation, the podcast launches with host April F. Draine as our guide. In the first episode, titled “The Journey,” April dives into the origins of ParentCamp with Julie Pile, President and Laura Gilchrist, Vice President, highlighting its mission to foster collaboration and build school and community ecosystems. Expect exciting discussions about impactful topics, sharing stories from ParentCamp schools, highlighting the amazing people we have met and learning from many of our strategic partners. Make sure you check out the show notes for links to all the great resources.
Listen to The ParentCamp Podcast on YouTube, Apple and Spotify.
You can find current and past episodes on our website under the Podcast tab – https://www.parentcamp.org/the-parentcamp-podcast/
You are invited to participate in our One Word Challenge by sharing your word for the year via our Menti link and joining the conversation from the podcast on social media using #TheParentCampPodcast. Let’s make 2025 a year of connection, growth, joy and hope together!
Join our One Word Challenge Menti: www.menti.com and enter code 6238 7792. Menti open until Wednesday, January 22nd.
Virtual ParentCamp Coordinator
ParentCamp
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If you would like to learn more about bringing ParentCamp or one of our family of camps (Career, Industry, Community, GrandParent, Student, Care) to your school or district, please reach out to Julie or Laura. We would love to walk with you on your family-school-community engagement journey.
Curious what ParentCamp is? Check out our videos on YouTube.
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