Training Opportunities: Week of August 8th

  Things to Know:

STEM Fest is coming up! 

The 2025 Maryland STEM Festival runs from October 17th through November 16th. This year's theme is energy. We have been swamped this summer, planning significant events for you! The Line-up is shaping up.  Here are some of the signature events under development 

• Opening Ceremony, October 16^th, Capitol Technology Univeristy
• Lower Shore STEM Festival, October 18^th, Salisbury University
• Blue Collar STEM Festival, October 25^th, Howard Community College
• STEM of Many Colors, October 28 – Towson,
• Cybersecurity Career Discussion Panel, October 29^th, Crofton High School
• Frederick STEM Carnival at Carroll Creek, November 1, Carroll Creek
• Western STEM Festival, November 8^th, Frostburg State University
• Cyberfeud, November 12, Loyola Blakefield
• Girl STEM Powerment Event, November 13, Severna Park High School
•  eSports Conference, November 14-16, Baltimore Convention Center
•  Closing Ceremony, November 16^th, Gaithersburg Library

There will be many more events happening, so keep checking out our website.

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Wellspring of Life Farm Discovery Days- 

Wellspring of Life Farm will be hosting the following NO-COST Discovery Days at the farm located at 16312 Old York Road, Monkton, Maryland, 21111. 

This opportunity is open to all first responders (sworn, non-sworn, and professional staff), their families, and military (active, veteran, retired) members.

Discovery Days include fun games with horses, dogs, goats, chickens, and lunch! Each Discovery Day is a different experience. To view the upcoming activities, please visit Wellspring of Life Farm.

Discovery Days are held on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with lunch served from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. The upcoming dates are as follows:

August 16th
September 20th
October 18th
November 15
December 13th
 
RSVPs are respectfully requested up to a week before the day, so an accurate count can be made for food.

Please email discovery.wlf@myyahoo.com to RSVP, and include the number of people in your party.

Grant Opportunity:

We are excited to share that Stihl is continuing its long-standing support of America’s State Parks this year through the Hearts of Stihl Grant. These grants will fund projects related to sustainability, recovery, conservation, or environmental education programs in State Parks across our country.

 

https://stateparks.org/special-programs/stihl-grant/

 

These grants are limited to State Parks and we will promote them on our social media channels encouraging parks to apply. The application requires a password which we are providing here for you to distribute to your teams. The applications will be open until August 20 and we look froward to awarding grants of up to $15,000 to a State Park or a Park system in each region during our conference in West Virginia.

 

If you are interesed in applying please contact Director Miller. 

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MPS Trainings:

Focus on Mental Health!

Beyond just the sessions sponsored by NRP belowe we also have several opportunities coming up thanks to our friends in Outdoor Rec!

• Sept 8- Mindful Interpretation: Fostering Meaningful Connections Through Programming - learn how to guide visitors in developing meaningful relationships with the natural world and foster mental well-being 
• September 29- 30 - Mental Health and Resilience in the Outdoors- build skills in mental health first aid and nautre-based resiliency practices 

CQD is Back! 

The team at Close Quarters Defense has won another grant to be able to offer us this FREE training set. Please consider taking advantage now in case they do not get another grant in the future. 

• August 26- 27- Level 1 - this is for Newbies or anyone that just wants to do it again
• September 9-10- Level 2- this is a Refreshers for anyone that has taken Level 1 in the past. This reviews the previously learned skills as well as adding another dimension. 
• Sept 23-24- Level 3- this next level Refresher will also include some park setting scenarios. 

Resources: 

First Time Water Sampler Certification - New Process for First - Time Water Sampler Certification  From EMS World: CURED in Practice: Documenting a Legally Defensible Patient Refusal

Non-MPS Trainings: 

WebMD Webinar on Aug. 21: How to Build Habits That Last Forward this email to a friend » View this email in a browser

DATE: August 21, 2025 TIME: 1pm Eastern Daylight Time / 10am Pacific EXPERT: Christine Li, Ph.D.   Register for this free webinar from our friends at WebMD on how to develop lasting habits by understanding the psychology of behavior change. Sign up and you will receive the free webinar replay link as well! Old habits die hard—and new ones can seem as fragile as a house of cards. Anyone who’s seen a New Year’s resolution fizzle before February knows the frustration, disappointment, blame, and shame that emerge when desired habits don’t stick. You might be asking: Why is this so hard? Why do I keep failing? How can I halt this cycle of discarded habits? The secret is this: Building new habits — around nutrition, exercise, sleep, and most other healthy endeavors — starts with believing that you’re capable and deserving of change. How you see yourself dictates how you move yourself forward (or backward), and blame is not propulsion fuel. Here, clinical psychologist and habits expert Christine Li, Ph.D., exposes the myth of willpower and offers an alternative, nuanced exploration of how habits work (and don’t work). Learn why changing what you do requires changing how you think about your behavior and how much you trust and believe in yourself. In this webinar, you will learn: About the basic architecture of habits: cue, routine, reward How to identify roadblocks to habit-building, including self-judgment How to align decision-making and behavior with future goals What a reasonable, achievable action plan toward a new habit looks like About the critical relationship between self-compassion and habit building Register Now to Reserve Your Spot & Get Replay Access »

Boulder Crest Struggle Well Training- No Cost

Our partners with the Baltimore County Police Peer Support and Wellness Team will be hosting a 2-Day Boulder Crest Struggle Well training on August 20th and 21st at the Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company Lee N. Sachs Learning Center.

Struggle Well training enables participants to develop a plan for personal growth by transforming their struggle into strength through training in six main areas:
Trust and Connection: Recognizing the importance of trust and how to foster deep and meaningful connections.
Education: Identifying the physical, psychological, and spiritual impacts of stress; examining the ways in which struggle can lead to growth and transformation.
Regulation: Adopting mental, physical, financial, and spiritual wellness practices to regulate thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Disclosure: Developing ways to self-disclose personal experiences that can be effective in strengthening interpersonal relationships.
Story: Creating a positive, forward-looking personal story that integrates past, present, and future.
Service: Developing a new plan to provide service to their family, workplace, and community.

Boulder Crest is a nationally recognized charity organization serving members of the military, veterans, first responders, and their families. The goal is to build a world where all people can thrive in the aftermath of trauma. Additional information regarding Boulder Crest can be found here: Boulder Crest Foundation.

This training is open to all active and retired first responders, as well as professional staff members.

Below is the training information:

Date: August 20 - 21, 2025

Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Location: Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company (40 E. Sudbrook Ln., Pikesville, MD 21208)

Food will be provided, along with coffee and light refreshments. If you have any dietary restrictions, you are encouraged to bring your own food, as the menu is at the discretion of Boulder Crest.

To register for this event, please use the following link: Boulder Crest August Struggle Well

This class is limited to 25 participants. A waitlist will be established if the maximum number of participants is reached.

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Beyond the Shift: Preventing Burnout- NO COST Training

Our partners with the Maryland State Police are offering a no-cost training being held on September 8th OR 9th, "Beyond the Shift: Protecting Your Life Outside the Job."

This training will explore how the constant demands of public safety work can affect your personal life, health, and relationships. You will learn strategies to separate your work life from your personal life, understand cumulative stress and its impact on your well-being, and recognize signs of burnout, compassion fatigue, and trauma. Flyers for both training dates are attached below.

This training is open to all employees: NRP and MPS.

September 8, 2025

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Allegany College of Maryland, 12401 Willowbrook Rd, Cumberland, MD 21502

Western MD Registration

September 9, 2025

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Major General Linda L. Singh Readiness Center, 6501 Sykesville Rd, Sykesville, MD 21784

Sykesville Registration

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2025 Summer Project WILD, WET, and Learning Tree Facilitator Course

Where: UND Campus, Caroline Hall Rm 300

When: Monday, Aug 11 and Wednesday, Aug 13, 9am-4pm.  Some pre-class online content will be required for PLT.

Content: Project WILD Terrestrial/Aquatic, Project WET K-12, Project Learning Tree K-12 for Facilitators

Cost: $26 to PLT (invoiced through MAEOE), $50 to WET (payment link to be provided)

Food: BYO lunch, snacks and drinks provided by MD DNR.

Requirements: Participants must apply and indicate that they've had at least 1 of the 3 curriculum courses within the past 10 years.  Participants must commit to teach each curriculum to other adults at least once in the next 2 years.

Registration: Contact Sarah to register at sarah.witcher1@maryland.gov.  Registration closing date is August 4, 2025.