2008 PE Mini-Conference (Wrap-Up)

The 2008 SUNY Cortland PE Mini-Conference went really well thanks to the many students, faculty, and staff that helped to organize and run the workshops. With more than 200 attendees, Dr. Pasarini's keynote speech really inspired a lot of students (Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3) to see each child's abilities and not their disabilities. Special thanks go out to Dr. Eric Malmberg and the Executive of the Alliance of Physical Education Majors club for all their hard work in planning and running the event. Please e-mail me any of your conference pictures and they will be added to the online photo albums that can be seen on our PE Dept. blog and website.

The thing I appreciated the most about the conference was when the opening speaker spoke about Katie Lynch a young woman with a disability and she referred to herself as an athlete. This brought out a completely new light for me. All throughout our classes we learn how to play new sports and how to teach them and occasionally there is the class that says we have to be able to work with all different types of students. Of course I heard what these professors were saying but it never occurred to me that an athlete is not someone that can play professionally or play on the school basketball team or what have you. An athlete is someone that has the never quit, never fail attitude and wants to be physically active. It really does not matter your size or shape or your ability or disability. - Jessica Forte