🎉 Join Us for the 35th Annual Summer Institute 🎉
We’re thrilled to welcome early learning professionals back for our 35th Annual Summer Institute, filled with opportunities to learn and network! We've partnered with an incredible lineup of trainers to bring you engaging, high-quality sessions designed for those working in Head Start, ECEAP, TTK, and other early learning programs.
🌟 All sessions are eligible for STARS credit, and we have a limited number of scholarships available. For more scholarship infomation please reach out to Sandy for assistance.
📝 Track descriptions under the Sessions Tab.
🏨 Lodging: Red Lion Wenatchee (1225 N Wenatchee Ave, Wenatchee, WA 98801)
Hotel Phone Number: 509-663-0711
Group Name: WA Head Start 2025 Summer Conference
Group Code: WAHE0623
Cut off date: 6/9/25, please make sure all reservations are made by this date to ensure you get the discounted price! After this date, all unreserved rooms are released back into general inventory.
There are two ways to make a reservation:
-Online, by going to our website and following these simple steps:
-By Phone, by calling the hotel directly at 509-663-0711 and pressing 0 and providing your Group Name, Group Code (WAHE0623) and check in and out dates.
The Hotel will offer breakfast. We will be offering catered lunch at the college.
***Scholarships are available, please email Sandy for more information.
❓ Questions
Reach out to Sandy or Katy (sandy@wsaheadstarteceap.com or katy@wsaheadstarteceap.com)
TRACK INFORMATION
Track 1: Teaching is Hard—Let’s Work to Bring Back the Joy of Teaching
Cathy Cole, Early Childhood Education Consultant, LLC
Description: Parents often say, “I don’t know how you do it all day…I get exhausted with just my child.” And you smile and say, “We love having your child with us!” But the truth is, often times you are exhausted too. It can be overwhelming with behaviors in the classroom, meeting the needs of 18+ children all day, working as a teaching team, communicating with families, or trying to complete all the paperwork. Teaching is hard. Sometimes it is difficult to remember why you come back every day. Is it the joy you experience being hugged by two children, when a child pours her milk for the first time, or that Charlie only hit two children instead of five? Even if the joy doesn’t last long (after all often it is only a matter of time when milk ends up on the floor) we all know that there is joy, there is magic -sometimes we just need some guidance and support in facilitating our day for more joy to be experienced. Join me in exploring different strategies you can implement to expand your joy for facilitating learning, guiding children's interactions, building positive team relationships and your own personal fulfillment.
Learning Outcomes:
- Identify and explore different teaching strategies to expand and enhance their joy & passion for facilitating learning of young children.
- Develop an understanding of how to effectively guide children’s interactions.
- Acquire skills in building positive team relationships with co teachers.
Track 2: Cultivating Resilience in Times of Uncertainty—A Trauma Informed Approach to Change and Stress Management
Joseph Castro, Certified Coach/Facilitator at Leaders Who Coach
Description: This immersive 3-day training equips early childhood educators and family support advocates with trauma-informed, emotionally intelligent tools to build resilience in the face of uncertainty. Centered around the realities of the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world, this experience integrates emotional regulation strategies, the neuroscience of trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn), and the principles of growth mindset and emotional intelligence to empower participants with practical, body-based, and relational resilience practices for change and stress management.
Learning Outcomes:
- Identify the characteristics of VUCA environments and how they impact individuals and teams in early learning settings.
- Recognize the four trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) and describe how these manifest in change and stress.
- Apply at least three evidence-based emotional regulation techniques for personal and professional use.
- Demonstrate increased emotional intelligence skills, including self-awareness, self-regulation, and social awareness, in role-play or reflective activities.
- Develop a personalized resilience plan using practical strategies that support nervous system health and psychological safety.
Track 3: Challenging Behavior in the Preschool Classroom: Strategies and Supports
Tim Andrews (M.S), Trainer and Consultant
Description: In these fun and engaging 3 days, we will examine the Pyramid Model, or Early Childhood Positive Behavior Supports. We will be discuss strategies that serve to prevent challenging behavior in many of our early childhood environments as well as skills we can teach to children that serve to replace challenging behaviors. We will also look at strategies that can be used to support families and caregivers. This class will offer time for staff to action plan and consider changes for their environments. This class is appropriate for those who work in environments that serve children ages 3-5.
Learning Outcomes:
- Participants will leave with an understanding of challenging behavior and strategies and supports that reduce and prevent challenging behavior in the first place as well as an action plan for their environments.
Track 4: Cultivating a Healing-Centered Approach
Marlaina Baxtter, Senior Content Developer at Cultivate Learning University of Washington
Description: The effects of trauma are different for each of us. The path and pace of recovery will be different for each of us, too. This idea is at the core of all the research on healing. Our brains and bodies are unique. Our families and historical experiences are different. Each one of us is the product of the cultures, customs, languages, and social expectations we grew up with. To support healing and recovery, we must respect that it will look, sound, and feel different among people and communities.
In this three-day session, we explore ways to center compassion, sensitivity, and healing in the ways we talk, learn, and engage with others. With many opportunities for reflection and discussion, this session offers strategies for shifting mindsets and implementing policies and practices that foster healing-centered learning spaces.
Relationships are at the center of trauma-informed and healing-centered work. As we discuss a healing-centered approach, we consider ALL relationships. This includes relationships with children and their families, co-workers, our own families, and the broader communities around us. Trauma in our communities impacts our work and personal relationships. It also affects us as individuals. Woven throughout this session are opportunities to practice self-care. When we are stable and grounded, like trees, we can more easily bend with the wind without breaking.
Learning Outcomes:
- Recognize how a trauma-informed and healing-centered approach fosters trusting, supportive relationships, and positive outcomes.
- Describe what a trauma-informed and healing-centered approach means in your work and learning environment.
- Apply trauma-informed and healing-centered practices to your daily life.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
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Day 1, Tuesday June 24th
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Day 2, Wednesday June 25th
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Day 3, Thursday June 26th
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8am
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Registration
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8:30am-12pm
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Class in Session
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8:30am-12pm
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Class in Session
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9am-12pm
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Classes in Session
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12-1:30pm
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Lunch
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12-1pm
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Lunch
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12-1:30pm
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Lunch
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1:30-5pm
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Class in Session
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1-3pm
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Class in Session
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1:30-5pm
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Classes in Session
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