The Directors of the ETSI met in Santa Fe to review our mission and by-laws. Our Directors are Joe Trindal, Julie Seton, Ron Edmonds, and Howard Prager. The meeting was supported by Woodcraft Rangers’ Julee Brooks and Celina Salinas.
We began with a tour of the Academy for the Love of Learning and the Seton Castle site which set us up to evaluate how our organization differs from others, defining our niche. Our vision is to preserve and build on ETS’s philosophies. Our mission statement is: Through expansive thinking and action, ETSI inspires curiosity and respect for nature and humanity aligned with ETS’s ideals.
Like Blue Sky World Woodcraft, ETSI wants to engage with people and organizations all over the world interested in Woodcraft principles; but unlike BSWW, we are a formal non-profit organization. Our short term projects include developing an online center that will be the premiere source of where to find Seton collections and materials; conducting oral histories from people who knew ETS personally or have had their lives influenced by his teachings that will eventually be available through our website; and building a Speakers Bureau in which we will give presentations that bring his principles and stories forward, demonstrating how they are as relevant today as they were more than a century ago. We are approaching academic, educational, and scientific entities to become partners with us so we can support digitization of Seton works and add their Seton inventories to our database.
We send our deep gratitude to the Academy for the Love of Learning for allowing us to use “Seton Space” to conduct our meeting and thank Jessica Smyser and David Witt for their support.
Photo from left to right: Ron Edmonds, Howard Prager, Julie Seton, Joe Trindal.