Besides the wonderful workshops - there will be door prizes awarded at the end of each workshop.

You must be present to win!

Please attend Keynote in Ballroom
“Balancing the Earth Books”
Dan Phillips of the Phoenix Commotion

 9:50 am - 10:40 am

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

12:30 pm -  1:20 pm

 1:30 pm -  2:20 pm

 2:30 pm -  3:20 pm

Downsizing and Reducing Your Footprint - Marianna Perkins

Recycling Dead Laptop Batteries to Create Power Banks - Joey Smith

Learn how to reduce your carbon footprint by simplifying and learning new tools to dispose of and/or recycle many household items.

Marianna Perkins has lived in the Texoma area for many years.  She has worked in senior living for sixteen years, ranging from long term care to independent living.  She spent several years in ministry starting “All 4U Senior Transition Solutions” in 2017 to help local Seniors transition into a different living space, from downsizing to setting up in a new home or apartment.  She and her husband, Gary, currently reside in Sherman with their youngest daughter.

Downsizing and Reducing Your Footprint - Marianna Perkins

Leave No Trace - Kate Saling

Leave No Trace - Kate Saling

Calling all hikers, campers, and outdoor adventurers! Whether you’re a lifetime lover of the wild or someone who just wants to get out a little more drop by and learn how to protect the outdoors. Learn from Park Ranger Kate Saling how to be more prepared and how to leave a smaller impact on the land and its wildlife. We’ll cover “Leave No Trace” principles and discuss ways to spread this message in your community.

Ranger Kate Saling has worked at Eisenhower State Park since 2015. Her role at the park is to introduce people to the wonders of the natural world and inspire them protect those areas. Before joining Texas Parks & Wildlife she served three terms with AmeriCorps in Minnesota, Nevada, and Texas where she learned how to build hiking trails, improve timber stands, and restore endangered habitat for wildlife.

Monarch Waystation - Linn Cates, on behalf of Hagerman Wildlife Refuge

Monarch Waystation - Linn Cates, on behalf of Hagerman Wildlife Refuge

Recycling Dead Laptop Batteries to Create Power Banks - Joey Smith

Joey’s workshop will be a step by step demonstration on how to take dead laptop batteries and give them a second life as a battery pack to power other devices.

Joey has worked in information technology for over 10 years, serving two public schools in Oklahoma.  This summer he decided to reduce his energy footprint by converting his lighting to 12 volt and using solar energy recharge his current lead acid batteries.  While searching for a way to optimize his solar setup, he ran across the idea of using dead cells from laptop batteries.  Working at two public schools, he had access to many “trashed” batteries.  He took this as an opportunity to make green energy by using the cells of dead laptop batteries.

Participants will gain familiarity with the national movement to install resting places for monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) in their northward and southward migrations.  This beautiful creature has become endangered due to the destruction of habitat.  Citizens are making a difference with mindful planting of native vegetation that provide nectar and milkweeds, which host eggs, larval, and pupal stages of the butterfly.  Participants learn how they might take part in this movement and participate in sustaining the habitat of a key indicator species.

Linn Cates is a native Texan and a graduate of UT Austin.  She was a founder of the Belden Street Montessori School in 1985.  After retirement, she became passionate about the prairie.  She is a certified  Texas Master Naturalist and a tireless worker at the Hagerman Butterfly Garden, a registered Monarch Waystation.

Workshop Descriptions