The Maine Out of School Time Conference

Welcome to the 2025 Maine Out of School Time Conference: Igniting Purpose: Leading with Professionalism, Presence, and Passion.

Visit our website: www.maineost.org

Date: [September 11 & 12, 2025]

Location: Sunday River Grand Summit Hotel & Conference Center

Step away to the scenic mountains of Maine for the Maine Out of School Time Conference, a conference tailored to meet the unique needs of Out-of-School-Time professionals and those who support them. Youth serving professionals from around the state will gather together to learn, network, and share best practices. This event is intended to reignite your passion, provide skills to enhance high quality programming, and offer tools and resources that will inspire you to create positive change. During this conference participatants will also be guided through a journey of self discovery, exaimining key moments in their afterschool journey, thinking about their why, and learning steps they can take to ensure job quality standards for the afterschool field.

Keynotes

DAY ONE: Heidi Hamm, National Afterschool Association

Even a year later, the world continues to buzz with news about megastar Taylor Swift and how she structured her record-smashing concert tour as a chronological exploration of the chapters in her career. Eras--Taylor Swift isn’t the only one who has them. All people do. Inspired by this pop phenomenon, together, we’ll explore the eras and markers of an Out of School Time career journey, remember the past, honor the present, and set the stage for the future. Join the journey, identifying key moments that shaped you and envisioning how you can build on your strengths to make an impact through a mapped career in OST.

Keynote Follow Up with The Flourish Lab Your Why- Staying Connected to the Heart of Your Work: Creating supporting environments for young people starts with the adults in those spaces. The Flourish Lab is an experiential learning series designed to positively shift the way adults show up for young people.

Whatever your reason for working with young people, your WHY matters. You may want to make a positive impact your community. You may want to pay forward the impact of a positive adult in your life. You may want to teach invaluable life lessons. When we’re able to hone in on WHY we work with young people, we’re able to have a bigger impact in the work we do. Come discuss why you do the work that you do and how it can keep you grounded in what matters most, especially when things feel hard.

Discover...

• your WHY

• the value in knowing your WHY

• strategies for keeping your WHY alive

DAY TWO: The Flourish Lab, Presence: Showing Up Matters

Being truly present means consciously choosing to show up with a heightened level of awareness. And it matters bigtime! Positive or negative — the choice is always ours, but either way, count on a ripple effect. Once we understand that our adult actions and attitudes have a direct impact on the youth we serve (and all who support them), we can choose to show up differently.

Discover…• mindful strategies for showing up positively• the ripple effect of adult attitudes & behaviors• how your presence impacts relationships

Lodging

You may resreve lodging through our roomblock.