Do you have your pencil or calendar out? Today I’ll be giving you an Extension Events
listing for Teton County, and, of course, we invite our surrounding areas to
take part.
First up, this Saturday, August 26 is the MSU Innovation Road Show: Sharing Innovative Ideas One Town at a Time. A group of seven PhDs from MSU will be
speaking at this FREE event at 12:30 p.m. at the Stage Stop Inn. The event will be completed around 2:30 p.m. Topics range from driverless cars, grain
genetics, tiny houses, Asian history, Native health, nanotechnology and
invasive plants.
Next in the line-up of FREE educational offerings are the Small Business Webinars. These webinars
are scheduled the first Thursday of every month at 11 a.m. The first class is on Understanding Credit Card Processing for Businesses. This class was developed in direct response
to a request from a Teton County business owner. The webinars are free and will last 30
minutes. There is a chat room for
questions and answers during the live webinars.
They will be recorded and posted online.
Go to www.msucommunitydevelopment.org/smallbusiness.html
to learn more. Questions can be sent to commdev@montana.edu. For the first webinar on Thursday, September
7, we will be hosting a group viewing in Choteau at the library. Business owners can come together to learn,
not only from the webinar, but from each other.
Again, these webinars are free and can be viewed from your computer or
device or you can join us Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Choteau Library. Other webinars on the schedule so far are
October 5 at 11 a.m., Getting Your Small
Business Online, and November 2 at 11 a.m., Developing Your Story: A Foundation for Funding.
Mark your calendar for October 3 to be in Choteau from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. for Leading Local.
The Leading Local program will focus on
personal leadership skills, board member engagement and organizational
management. Board members and staff will come away feeling better prepared to
serve on a board, council or committee. They will recognize the components of
an effective meeting and have a good understanding of different personality
styles and how to work effectively together. Participants will learn about
tools to increase participation on boards, board member engagement and
recruitment strategies for high potential board members. The class will include
Real Colors Personality Inventory and Emotional Intelligence, Energizing Your
Organization and Engaging Your Board, plus more! The class will be taught primarily by Dan
Clark of the MSU Extension Local Government Center. This class is being provided FREE to the
public by our generous sponsors, MSU Extension in Teton and Pondera Counties, 3
Rivers Communication, City of Choteau and the Stage Stop Inn. Registration is appreciated and can be made
by contacting MSU Extension in Teton County at 466-2492 or teton@montana.edu.
But wait, there’s more!
On October 4, Dan Clark will teach a Board
Training class from 6-9 p.m. at the Stage Stop Inn, again, FREE to the
public with the same generous sponsors as the Leading Local class. Anyone who serves on any board in our area or
is thinking about serving on a board should take this highly informative,
engaging class. MSU Extension in Teton County at 466-2492 or teton@montana.edu.
We have some upcoming wellness classes, too! In conjunction with the Teton County Health
Department, MSU Extension in Teton County is offering the Living Life Well with Chronic Conditions and Diseases Class. Classes will be on Mondays from 6-8 p.m. at
the Choteau Library starting on September 11 and running through October
16. Instructors for the class are Glenn
Deuchler, Betty Lou Deuchler and me, Jane Wolery. Registration is required and the series costs
$20. Call 466-2462 to register.
And, that’s not all … We are excited to be teaching the YAM – Youth Aware of Mental Health class
to ninth grade students in Fairfield in September and October. YAM is a mental health resiliency program
that, when tested in Europe, provided the best evidence for preventing suicide
attempts and suicidal thoughts in adolescents.
The class, taught by Jane Wolery and Luke Coccoli, gives basic mental
health information, coping skills and emotional intelligence training,
problem-solving and positive peer relations.
Wolery is also looking forward to providing a class call
Teen Time and Tension Tips on September 6 for the Dutton-Brady youth at the
Dutton Park from 6-8 p.m.
We have a few more things to pin down in our September and
October calendars, but for now, that is our Extension Events update. We hope to see you participating in one of
the many Extension offerings in the upcoming weeks!