On August 10, 2009, in a comfortable room at the Carondolet Retreat Center in Saint Paul, the staff of the Improve Group gathered for our yearly retreat. As we have all come to appreciate, our retreats are a mixture of hard work and a very enjoyable experience.

The highlight of this year’s retreat was a learning session on Participatory Evaluation Methods led by Stacie Toal of Canon River Consulting. Stacie is a former student of Dr. Jean King, Professor at the Department of Educational Policy and Administration, College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Jean is a respected educator and an inspiring teacher and those qualities have passed on to her students. Stacie’s dynamic session presented our staff with great tools for future evaluation efforts along with facilitating a lively discussion on applications in our current work.

Another highlight of the day was a guest appearance by our newest Improve Group family member, Torrin Davis. Torrin was born this June to Staff member Becky Stewart and her husband Meleck Davis. Stacie, a new mom herself, kindly allowed time in her presentation for all of us to get our “baby fix”.

After a walk to get hearth-baked pizza we re-convened to discuss what quality means to the Improve Group and how we can best serve our clients. The day was a huge success and our gratitude to Leah for making our office a great place to work.