There'll be another Dot's Day next year, organizers say.
The first annual daylong empowerment and wellness conference for women took place March 24 at Olds High School, the Ralph Klein Centre and the TransCanada Theatre.
Raffle money from the day is going toward two $1,500 scholarships in Dot's name. One will be given to a student at Ecole Deer Meadow School, the other to an Olds High School student.
Raelynn Notley, a major organizer for the event, says Dot's Day went so well that organizers are already booking space for next year's edition.
Activities and attractions included two keynote speakers: local psychologist Dr. Jody Carrington as well as former Olds resident and Olympic athlete Danielle Lappage, a nationally ranked wrestler.
Other attractions and activities included yoga, sound meditation, creative art, a wellness session and kickboxing as well as sessions with Move Yourself Dance.
About 240 people attended the sold-out event, plus another 20 or so attended the keynote sessions only.
The day was named in honour of Dot Negropontes, a former teacher, principal, Chinook’s Edge School Division official and Community Learning Campus (CLC) executive director who passed away May 15, 2017.
During her career, Negropontes rose from teacher to Olds High School principal, the first-ever École Deer Meadow School principal, as well as a Chinook’s Edge School Division official. She also steered creation of the CLC and served as its executive director.
About 25 people organized the event.
Members of the Interact Club provided lunch, thereby raising money for their organization. The OHS leadership group also helped out, providing extra volunteers. Members of the fair trade committee assisted during the wellness breaks, making coffee, tea and fair trade bananas available.
Notley got the idea for a daylong session for women a couple of years ago while attending a mother-daughter conference with her daughter in Drayton Valley.
Last October, Notley's mother gave her the idea to name it after Negropontes, because she was grieving over Dot's passing.
"She said that she was really struggling with the loss of Dot and she wanted to turn those sad feelings and do something good. So she wanted to have an event in Dot's honour where she could raise money to go toward scholarships," Notley says.
"So it just sort of clicked for me. I was, like, 'well you know what? I'm planning this event, I don't have a name for it yet, but if you wanted to, we could align these two things together.'
"Really, it made sense, because Dot embodied all of the qualities that we wanted to promote with an event like this. So it just really seemed to make sense, and the ball just started to roll from there."
At the end of the day, Notley announced plans to make the event an annual one.
"I've had nothing but great feedback. My inbox is just full with messages from women who attended eager to come back next year. It's just nice to see that sort of response to a day," Notley says.
"I mean, we knew that it would probably go well because there were so many great people who had given their time in the wellness sessions and things like that. Like, it would have been a hard time to not have fun, but with the response we got, yeah, we're already looking at booking dates and stuff for next year."
Notley says a few things may be tweaked for next year.
For example, some people had difficulty obtaining drinks or snacks during breaks because the lines were so long, so that will be addressed. Also, this year, people could only attend two sessions. They will likely be able to attend more next year.
"Everybody walked out of there on a high, I think. It was just exhilarating. People had so much fun together," Notley says.
