August 3, 2011   

Laubach Literacy Ontario celebrated 30 years at its annual conference June 24th to 26^th at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario.  Thirty years of supporting and promoting adult literacy in Ontario is quite a feat in this day and age.  Congratulations to us and our members…we couldn’t have done it without your support. 
 
Over 130 people attended, 40 of which were literacy students.  The focus of three of the workshops was the new OALCF (Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework).  Other workshops included Succession Planning, Building a Better Board, Summer in Smallywood (Essential Skills Video Game), Teaching ESL Adults, Learning Disabilities and Employment, to name a few.  The various computer lab classes were of great interest again this year. Thanks to all the presenters for their time.    2011 Conference Evaluation Summary.doc

Photos from the conference are now available here.
 
The students also held their Annual Student Meeting and it was well attended. The Student Initiative Committee (Rubert Payea, Jack Osborne, Mike Chamberlain) hosted the meeting with the assistance of Jennifer Ellis.  The students had the opportunity to air their concerns and their wish list.
 
Saturday, June 25 was our AGM which was followed by dinner, 30^th anniversary cake, awards, karaoke and dancing.  Every year a new karaoke star is born and this year’s winners were Lance and Kelly from Midland.  Midland Area Reading Council now gets to display the beautiful trophy for a year.
 
We were fortunate enough to have some past presidents and board members in attendance Saturday evening--some we hadn’t seen in years:  Myles Gallant, John Putman and Linda Martin.  Bev Clarke and Val Sadler were also there but were unable to attend the dinner on Saturday evening.
 
A Student open mic was held Sunday morning after breakfast and it was extremely moving.  We had poems, songs, brief stories and in some cases just introductions.  As more students came up to speak you could feel the confidence in the room grow.  There was also a “special draw prize” for the students – a loaded laptop computer-- and the winner was Kevin Gamble from Hamilton Literacy Council.  What a way to end a conference!  Thanks to Rubert for getting the donations for this prize.
 
Thanks to Carol Risidore for volunteering her organization, the Literacy Group of Waterloo Region, to host this event, to Cathy O’Brien for co-ordinating everything and to all the volunteers for their hard work.