Gengras News

Hats for Haiti Raises $450.00
The Gengras Center Student Council held a "Hats for Haiti" day on Friday January 29, 2010.
Staff and Students paid $2.00 to wear a hat all day. All proceeds raised were donated to the Haitian Relief Efforts.
Great Job Gengras!

Click here to view the
March Lunch Menu

Gengras Center Career Day!
The Career Fair will take place during school hours on Wednesday March 31, 2010. Volunteers from many professions and careers will share what they do with the students.

Gengras March Madness!!!
Tuesday March 23, 2010
6:30 - 8:00 PM
The O'Connell Athletic Center of Saint Joseph College
(Unit 2 and Life Skills Students)

The Gengras Center will be closed for students on Wednesday March 24, 2010 for Staff In-Service Day

Click here to view
The Gengras Center 2009-2010 Calendar

NEW!!! Gengras Center Drawstring Bags on Sale!!!
Click here for info and Order Form!

Registration Information!!!
The Gengras Center Professional Academy 2009-2010
Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities and Workshops. Click for Brochure.

The Gengras Center Consultation Team
The Gengras Center is now offering consultation services to districts and agencies statewide.
Please click for information on how to arrange a consultation with our talented team.

Gengras Center Adventure Educators have published a book !!!
Mike Gessford and
Justin McGlamery have
co-authored their first book,
Focus Your Locus:
Activities that Focus the Power of Individuals and Groups.
Published by Wood 'n' Barnes Publishing, Bethany, OK

Saint Joseph College Wins CASE District 1 Communications Awards for 2010
Saint Joseph College won two awards, one of which was a Bronze award for the new Gengras Center Brochure.

This prestigious recognition earned from CASE judges - all of whom are seasoned professionals - distinguishes the calibre and quality of work produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications at SJC over the last year in advancing the College’s message to the public.
These projects also drew on the talents of: Michelle Lestrud, assistant director (The Gengras Center); Justin McGlamery, facilitator (Adventure Education & Technology, The Gengras Center).
Click Here to view the Gengras Center Brochure.

Click here to see our 2009 CAPSEF Golden Apple Educator of the Year Award Winners!

The Gengras Center - Greater Hartford Jaycees Yurt!
The Gengras Center received a very generous grant from the Greater Hartford Jaycees to build a Yurt for Indoor Adventure Education activities.
Click here for the complete story.

The Gengras Center-Greater
Hartford Jaycees Greenhouse
Check it out here!!!

Boundless Playgrounds
mean Boundless Fun!!!


Employment Opportunities
at The Gengras Center

The Gengras Center - Greater Hartford Jaycees Yurt

The Gengras Center recieved a $55,286.00 grant from the Greater Hartford Jaycees to build a yurt which is a multi-faceted dedicated educational space that would support a variety of programming needs on a year round basis.
The two main needs that are being fulfilled are; to provide learning spaces for programming in Physical Education and Adventure Education classes.

The open floor plan in a yurt of 30 feet in diameter and thirteen feet high in the center provides an open space that can accommodate many physical education activities that might normally be accomplished in the classroom, but are impeded and really unsafe because of classroom furniture and other obstacles. These include small circle games, balloon activities, rhythmic games, yoga and stretching. It could also be a space for table top games that interest older students.

Additionally the yurt is a more permanent indoor space for Adventure Education classes to be held. The yurt will contain some type of white board that is often necessary when reflecting or teaching concepts that would be helpful to write down. It also is a space that could better house many experiential activities when the gym is unavailable.

Why a Yurt? What the heck is a Yurt anyway?!?!

Yurts are special because they are round and therefore make better use of space, are more efficient to heat, and provide less wind resistance. The roof structure, with its compression ring and tension band, is an amazing architectural design requiring no internal support system, thereby leaving the yurt open and spacious inside.
There is a specialness to yurts that is intangible and experiential, like the feeling that happens when stepping inside a yurt for the first time, or the magical moment in yurt building when the roof ring is set and the building shudders into place. There are probably reasons for this "magic" of yurts in the very physics of the shapes (of circle and triangle, cylinder and cone), but this remains to be explored. Finally, yurts seem especially suited to certain pursuits. Yurts are often used in retreat centers and for the healing arts, meditation, spiritual practices, dancing and community gatherings. People say they sleep better in yurts, and often dream more. The healing, creative, communal and spiritual nature of yurts is broadly recognized but, again, the reason for it ultimately remains a mystery.

Click here to view our Virtual Yurt Construction video!

For more information about yurts, check out these websites:

Official website for Pacific Yurts, the makers of the Yurt Kit we have decided to go with - http://www.yurts.com

Wikipedia's Yurt Page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt

Yurt Info - www.yurtinfo.org