WATERLOO – The Ripple Effect Education (TREE) is a peace education initiative based out of the Frank and Helen Epp Peace Incubator in the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement. Starting in the classroom, TREE aims to create peace-literate citizens with demonstrable conflict resolution skills and awareness of justice issues locally and globally. TREE programming will empower youth to think critically and evoke change in their communities. They will hone soft skills like communication, teamwork, and empathy.
In 2014 and 2015, Director of TREE Katie Gingerich, coordinated Conrad Grebel University College’s Peace Camp – a day camp and workshop program for youth. In 2015, Peace Camp facilitated conflict resolution and social justice workshops in 121 classrooms where they worked with over 2,400 elementary students in the Waterloo Region and Waterloo Catholic District School Boards – a 100 percent increase from the year before.
Katie brings learnings from Peace Camp into her work with TREE, including feedback from educators. In 2015, Peace Camp found that teachers wanted to hold conflict resolution and social justice programming in their classrooms earlier in the year, and more often. To that end, TREE is developing a curriculum-based workshop series with pre- and post-workshop resources for teachers to use throughout their school year to further develop concepts in their classroom. Additionally, TREE will offer custom programming for Waterloo Region’s students, beginning with the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union Peace in Action scholarship program.
TREE is funded with a $150,000 grant from the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation over three years. “The Lyle S. Hallman Foundation believes that peace-literacy and conflict resolution skills are important ingredients in a well-rounded education for all students,” remarked Executive Director Laura Manning. “We are excited to see Conrad Grebel’s wealth of expertise in these areas brought directly into local classrooms.”
The MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement is located at Conrad Grebel University College on the University of Waterloo campus. The Centre recognizes the value of collaborative, inter-disciplinary, and multi-sector approaches to the advancement of peace and houses a range of peace scholars from the University of Waterloo, as well as practitioners from local peace building organizations.
To find out how to invite TREE into your school, contact:
Katie Gingerich
TREE Director
katie.gingerich@uwaterloo.ca
519-885-0220 x24205
Conrad Grebel University College
Waterloo, ON Canada