25 years already - My experience in CréaCamp

We couldn't mark our 25th anniversary without talking about CréaCamp, which is a big part of our business. Alexane St-Amant Ringuette, who coordinated the 2018 and 2019 editions, shares her experience with us. Next CréaCamp on April 16, will you be with us?

For a girl who has always wanted to work in this beautiful world of education, becoming a CréaCamp training coordinator for École branchée was a most stimulating challenge. A professional experience which, although rather short (approximately 18 months), has been immensely rich in terms of human discoveries (yes yes, I say human and not digital!).

Perhaps it was precisely the human intensity of these professional development events that made me feel like I wore this hat for longer than a year and a half. Or the fact that our team held 17 editions during this period (that's more than a CréaCamp per month if we remove the summer months!).

From Bas-Saint-Laurent to Ottawa, via Quebec, Bellechasse, Center-du-Quebec and Montreal, I met people there who really care about providing education in a different way. Who have a deep desire to renew themselves, to explore ways to better support their students.

And one of the things that I found the most beautiful was to see as many CréaCampeurs fresh out of university and in the infancy of their professional career as great sages who, even a few months before their retirement, were ready to come out of their comfort zone and explore a new approach or tool. Like what when we are passionate, we are passionate to the end!

The objective of the CréaCamp is to offer time and offer a context. Context where it is possible to break the routine. Context to find new ideas, to take a new direction in its teaching practices. But above all, to meet people and have fun. Because so that our young people can learn and develop fully in stimulating educational environments, it is necessary that their teachers also experience happiness in their work!

17 editions in 18 months is a lot, but do you believe me if I tell you that I remember each of them precisely. It is because each one has its own color according to the people present and the spaces in which we find ourselves. The formula CréaCamp has that little "je ne sais quoi" that is difficult to explain! A kind of magic that sets in. "Clicks", finds, meetings, friendships, a community that is woven from time to time. It is not for nothing that many return to several editions (woot woot the CréaCampeurs VIP!).

So I tip my hat to those who are at the origin of this beautiful concept that allows all of this to come true. And hats off also to my former colleagues who have succeeded in adapting the formula to the health situation we are experiencing while retaining this human dimension which makes it so rich!

Finally, I tip my hat to all the people who dared to participate in a CréaCamp, to all those who inspired me with their commitment to education. And a special thank you to the great team of the École branchée for all the moments of madness and fun!