The Marina Ewald & Kurt Hahn Address

Quick Facts | Ewald & Hahn | Philosophy, Purpose, and Selection Process | Past Presenters 


A Speech Given by an Exceptional Experiential Educator

The Ewald and Hahn Address is presented annually at the AEE International Conference by a person designated by the Board of Directors who has contributed to the development and advancement of experiential education with the tenacity and conviction exemplified by Marina Ewald and Kurt Hahn. 


The 2024 Address: Honoring Jean Berube 

Jean b&wThe Association for Experiential Education is proud to announce that Jean Berube has been selected to deliver the Marina Ewald & Kurt Hahn Address at the upcoming AEE International Conference. This prestigious address is presented annually to a person who embodies the tenacity and conviction of Marina Ewald and Kurt Hahn, reflecting their commitment to the advancement of experiential education. The Address honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the field, demonstrating both leadership and global impact. It serves as a formal presentation to the AEE membership, highlighting the recipient's alignment with the current vision of the organization and the historical legacy of Ewald & Hahn.

Jean SpeakerJean Berube, a trailblazing figure in experiential education, is celebrated for her profound impact on students and communities worldwide. With a career spanning over 45 years at Gallaudet University, Berube’s legacy encompasses transformative educational practices, international peace-building efforts, and a deep commitment to personal discovery and cultural exchange.

Jean will deliver the 2024 Address on Saturday, November 16 at the AEE International Conference in Estes Park, Colorado.

Jean photoJean Berube has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Maryland. She has undergraduate minors in English and Biology. She has graduate degree minors in Physiology and Health Education. She has additional classes in health Education and a certification in Natural History with 22 classes from the United States Department of Agriculture ( USDA).  She has  training in conflict resolution , mediation, anger management  and a 16 month class in Peace from Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center. 

She taught at Gallaudet University for 45 years (1965-2010). She taught physical education, health education, and physiology of exercise.  She coached Field Hockey (1965-1973) and co-ed gymnastics (1965-2010). She founded the Personal Discovery Program in 1979 and still continues to help with this program.  She has traveled with Discovery staff under the Gallaudet Young Scholars’ Program to Japan (1995); India (1998); Mexico (1999), Johannesburg, South Africa (1999); and Romania (2000) doing 7-8 workshops in each country. She has traveled with Discovery staff to Russia (1993-2000), the Philippines (2003), Haiti (2013-2020) and Guatemala (2014, 2015). She has traveled independently for the Discovery Program to Australia (2000), Taiwan (2010, 2012), and China (2010).  She has been involved in three International Peace Programs with Julia Shevelova (1996, 1998, 2005).  She has been running a camp for deaf children at Institut Montfort in Haiti since 2013.  She has just  completed (2024) a visual Haitian Sign Language (LSH) Dictionary with help from Haitian deaf and with members of  Friends of Montfort in an attempt to save the LSH sign language.

Some awards received are: Distinguished Faculty of the Year presidential award (2007), The Michael Stratton Practioner’s Award given by the International Association for Experiential Education (2001), Faculty of the Year award by Delta Phi Epsilon (2003), Dedication of the Tower Clock  by the year book staff(1995-96), Mother of the Year award by ASP fraternity (1996), Faculty of the Year award by Delta Phi Epsilon sorority (1994), and Woman of the Year award by the Bisonettes Club (1992-93).

Articles and books published are as follows:

“The Power of Metaphors and Rituals”, The Ripple Effect, the Voice of T.E.A.M., Northeastern 

               Illinois University, Spring, 1998.


Learning Through Participation,” Proceedings from the 19th International Congress on    

               Education of the Deaf and 7th Asian-Pacific Congress on Deafness, July 9-13, 2000, Sydney    

               Australia.


“Personal Discovery in Theory and Practice”, Proceedings from the 19th International Congress     

               on Education of the Deaf and 7th Asian-Pacific Congress on Deafness, July 9-13, 2000, Sydney,   

               Australia.


Contributed to the writing of High Point of Persistence: The Miriam Richards Story ;2007, 

   www.lullu.com.


Contributed a story for The Revised and Expanded Book of Raccoon Circles, Dr. Jim Cain and Dr. 

              Tom Smith, Kendall/Hunt, 2007, pp.216-218.


Haitian Visual Dictionay, Jean Berube, editor; copyright, 2023; printed, February, 2024.



Some favorite quotes and words of wisdom:


Jean believes that every person has abilities (“gifts”) which need to be shared. When groups and societies learn to value and respect all life and learn to use each other’s “gifts,” the groups and societies will grow and the world will become a better place.


“All things are interrelated. Everything in the universe is a part of a single whole. Everything is connected in some way to everything else. It is therefore possible to understand something only if we can understand how it is connected to everything else.”  The Sacred Tree


“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament.” Ralph Waldo Emerson


“Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or not.” Nathaniel Hawthorne


“To look at anything,

If you would know that thing,

you must look at it long:

To look at this green and say

I have seen spring in the woods;

will not do – you must

be the thing you see:

you must be the dark snakes of stems

and ferny plumes of leaves,

you must enter in to the small silences between the leaves,

you must take your time and touch the very peace they issue from.”

-John Moffitt 



A Feature-Length Documentary About Jean Is Coming Soon!

Jean and LauraTB8 Films is currently producing a feature-length documentary called,  'Journeys of Discovery'. The film is about Jean Berube, who led a quiet revolution in educational engagement. She is a pioneer in experiential education, using physical challenges and team building with deaf and hard of hearing students at Gallaudet University to build personal confidence and community.

In 1992, Berube began taking Gallaudet students to locations around the world (Japan, India, South Africa, Romania, Philippines, Mexico, Russia, Haiti, Guatemala), providing experiential learning activities as a model for bringing people with disabilities, minorities, and diverse communities together in orphanages, prison schools, theater companies, peace-building organizations, non-government organizations, hearing public schools, and schools for the deaf and hard of hearing. Each workshop changed people’s lives and perspectives of their fellow humans and the planet.

Berube created opportunities to respond to conflict and cross-cultural barriers with love on a global scale, all the while working with students at Gallaudet. For over 45 years, tens of thousands of students, local community members, and people all over the world participated in this experiential learning program with transformational impact in their own lives and success.

Journeys of Discovery will examine the ways that this quiet revolution changed lives and influenced our world.  The documentary includes re-enactments, multi-cultural traditions, interviews with Berube, and with a range of leaders and participants representing both the students and their counterparts in other nations.  

Uniquely, this film will incorporate both American Sign Language and spoken speech, conveying the full emotional range of ASL communication as a featured part of the story.  Innovative filming techniques will familiarize the audiences with the visual and kinesthetic aspect of storytelling that is part and parcel of the deaf experience. 

At a time when our world seems to be more divided than ever, Journeys of Discovery presents a model of bridge-building and heart-to-heart connection that is desperately needed today.

Written by Jean Berube

Receiving this award was totally unexpected. I am a person who is not good at receiving awards. I highly respect this award and those people who have received it in the past. When Jay [AEE Board President] called me and left a message and in the message received, told me I had been selected to give the Keynote address for the “Eva” award for the AEE conference, I thought, what is this? I called the number he had left and he explained. I had to think about everything because I wasn’t planning to attend AEE this year due to the time of the year and possible weather conditions and the fact that I hadn’t turned in a workshop offering.  As I thought about Jay’s and my conversation, I realized that this was an opportunity to show the AEE members what it means to start with a single purpose and how from that beginning something even more meaningful can grow. It is also an opportunity to show what the deaf can do. So, the next day, I called Jay and told him that I accepted the nomination.

Many people have helped to shape me in this wonderful field of adventure education. Once I started the Personal Discovery Program at Gallaudet University in 1979, I took every training and workshop I could to develop my skills. I was a physical education and health education person with a gymnastic and sport background which gave me a good foundation. I attended 11 different trainings from Project Adventure and Jim Schoel and his way of working with people and the ABC curriculum gave me my beginning. Inner Quest and trainings by Randy Smith and his staff not only helped me, but my staff too, especially in technical skill.  AEE, my first conference was around 1982, became my family. Every year I attended, I gained new knowledge and skills, made new friends, and felt revitalized. I guess I have attended over 40 AEE conferences. I met Tom Smith, Karl Rohnke, Dan Creely, Michelle Cummings, Noel Pompa and Gino Antonio at AEE and they each became a mentor and friend. Dr. Mansuk Patel, who has walked many miles across the earth for peace, impacted me as did the people in Russia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Romania, India, China, Taiwan, Guatemala, and Haiti.

No matter where one goes in the world, the needs of the people are the same. We all need to be valued, supported, respected and loved. AEE teaches those traits. People learn best from hands-on, visual activities. AEE teaches that. All life must be valued and AEE teaches that. AEE members must enter the classrooms, hospitals, prisons, the fields, the woods and the water and share the skills learned at AEE with all of those around. Each member of AEE is making a difference. AEE and all of its members should never give up. We must work together to unite the world and overcome the darkness. 


The Purpose, Process and Criteria 

"The Marina Ewald & Kurt Hahn address is a wonderful opportunity for the recipient of this honor to offer provocative, prompting, and perhaps potential words of wisdom to the larger body of the Association. In my experience, it’s been a time when some people making this address have helped shape members' understandings of the soul of experiential education."   - Denise Mitten, 2011 Ewald & Hahn Presenter

Philosophy and Purpose

The Ewald and Hahn Address is presented annually at the AEE International Conference by a person designated by the Board of Directors who has contributed to the development and advancement of experiential education with the tenacity and conviction exemplified by Marina Ewald and Kurt Hahn. 

The Marina Ewald & Kurt Hahn Address is a formal presentation to the membership of AEE during the annual conference. The purpose for this address is embedded in the desire of the Board of Directors for members of AEE to hear a tenured participant in the experiential education community. This opportunity is bestowed upon a person that the Board deems reflective of the current vision of the organization and the historical characteristics of Marina Ewald & Kurt Hahn. The recipient is also an individual who has contributed to the development and advancement of experiential education over a significant length of time, has demonstrated the tenacity and conviction that was exemplified by Ewald & Hahn, and is, most often, a leader in experiential education who has demonstrated both individual and global accomplishments that reflect upon the successes of the field and AEE.

Selection Process

The Board of Directors, rather than the conference Host Committee or the Awards Committee, reviews the list of possible candidates, including each candidate's brief biography. In selecting the recipient for the Ewald and Hahn Address, the Board of Directors review takes into consideration the annual theme that has been selected for the topic of the address. An AEE member can suggest a person to be added to the list of potential candidates by filling out the nomination form.

1. Any four board members can add a person to the list of possible candidates with submission of biographical data.

2. An AEE member can suggest a person to be added to the list of potential candidates by completing submission form. 

3. The selection process is documented in the AEE Policy Register (GP 12).

4. Once the selection process has been completed, a member of the Board of Directors will be delegated to invite the speaker. After the invitation has been accepted, further arrangements will be handled by AEE staff.

Criteria for Selection

● 15 years or more of service in experiential education.

● Influential in experiential education (recognizing broadest definitions of influence).

● Contribution of service to specific groups, and through these contributions, demonstration of compassion and spiritual integrity.

● Embodies attributes that Marina Ewald & Kurt Hahn regarded highly: craft, innovation, tenacity, service, spirit, adventurousness, compassion, enterprising curiosity, and physical, intellectual, and spiritual vigor.

● Highly regarded, reputable thinker and worker in some form of experiential education. Or have a message which is highly relevant to the field at the time of the address.

● Entertaining and inspiring speaker. Ability to draw people to the address and convey a message reflective of organizational needs.

● Willingness and availability to partner with AEE in furthering the AEE service mission.

● Contribution to diversity in the list of address designees.

● Preferably a current AEE member (individual or organizational representative).


Marina Ewald 1887-1976 and Kurt Hahn 1886-1974

The below is from Denise Mitten, 2011 Ewald & Hahn Presenter

Marina Ewald (German 1887 – 1976)

Kurt Hahn is the much celebrated and revered founder of the Outward Bound movement. In 1904, at the age of 18, Hahn suffered from sunstroke that left him with a recurring disability for the remainder of his life. When he was a boy, he had walked in the Dolomites and saw value in students spending time outdoors. However, Hahn never completed a major expedition before or after his sunstroke and had to carefully regulate for the remainder of his life, how much time he spent outside, and under what conditions. 

Marina Ewald was virtually unknown to the outside world until Veevers and Allison (2011) went to Salem School and found, through reading Hahn’s personal papers that Ewald was Hahn's partner in planning and the co-director at Salem School. When Hahn fled to the UK during the Nazi regime she remained as director (totaling 50 years). In 2016 if someone searched for Kurt Hahn on the Internet, they’d find a number of schools that he founded, including the Salam School in 1920. In no earlier record was a co-founder named for Salam, except Prince Max von Baden as Hahn’s benefactor. In the past few years more has popped up on the internet about Marina Ewald.

Ewald encouraged sailing for girls and boys while Hahn, according to accounts. did not seem interested in sailing. In 1925 Ewald, a geographer initiated the school's first sailing expedition to Finland and Iceland. After this, she was an advocate for the usefulness of expeditions as an outdoor learning model and incorporated expeditions into the curriculum. As a result, Hahn embedded expeditions into his future endeavors, too, and today we thank him for his vision and inspiration. Notably, Ewald was a key player and instrumental to the inception of the Outward Bound expeditionary model. Ironically, this piece of history has been completely subjugated for almost 100 years, and we had a “gender washed” asymmetrical (his)story.  

References:
Mitten, D., Gray, T., Allen-Craig, S., Loeffler, TA, & Carpenter, C. (2018). The invisibility cloak: Women's contributions to outdoor and environmental education. The Journal of Environmental Education 1-9. DOI: 10.1080/00958964.2017.1366890
 
Mitten, D. (2013). Book review: Sourcebook of experiential education: Key thinkers and their contributions. Journal of Experiential Education36(1), 80–82.
 

The Below is Quoted from Outward Bound California

Marina Ewald was a childhood friend of Kurt Hahn, the man who is credited with the creation of Outward Bound, as well as a few other educational programs including the Salem School and Gordunstoun. Many of the core values of Outward Bound derive from an expedition to Finland that Marina led, in the summer of 1925. Not only did Marina Ewald lead the grueling and difficult trip, she was the only woman.

Marina went on to become the director of Spetzgart (an expansion of the Salem School), but as time went on and the political climate became more turbulent, Kurt Hahn (who was Jewish), was exiled from Germany in 1933. The Salem School he had established was shut down by Nazi's, after an unsuccessful attempt to keep the program independent from German government.

In November 1945, while Hahn was taking refuge in England, and developing another education program there, Marina Ewald successfully reopened the Salem school, free from Nazi influence.

Marina stayed with the school for many years, and received the French Award ’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms) for her educational achievements. She made vital contributions to the structure of Outward Bound, and inspired students from all over the country and world!

A memorial for Marina Ewald now hangs in the Outward Bound California, Bay Area Program office, to remind all who enter that there are stories which must not go untold, there are women who have contributed and still continue to the success of Outward Bound, and we would not be where we are today without them.

Kurt Hahn was also a key figure in the development of experiential education. Hahn's personal experiences led him to make helping young people develop into healthy, happy, ethical and compassionate adults his life's calling. To that end, Hahn founded numerous colleges and programs dedicated to educating the whole person. 


Past Presenters

 Past Presenters

  • 2023 - Charles Thomas (click for video)
  • 2022 - D. Maurie Lung (click for video)
  • 2021 - Yap Meen Sheng (click for video)
  • 2020 - Vishwas Parchure (click for video)
  • 2019 - Mary Breunig
  • 2018 - TA Loeffler (click for video)
  • 2017 - Tony Alvarez (click for video)
  • 2016 - Jane Panicucci (click for video)
  • 2015 - Bill Proudman
  • 2014 - Karen Warren
  • 2013 - Laurie Frank
  • 2012 - Jasper Hunt
  • 2011 - Denise Mitten
  • 2010 - Jude Hirsch & Lee Gillis
  • 2009 - Cliff Knapp
  • 2008 - Bob Henderson
  • 2007 - Nina Roberts
  • 2006 - Peter Higgins
  • 2005 - Keith V. King
  • 2004 - Sanford Tollette
  • 2003 - Craig Dobkin
  • 2002 - Michael Gass
  • 2001 - Faith Evans
  • 2000 - Karl Rohnke
  • 1999 - Marianne Scippa
  • 1998 - Rita Yerkes
  • 1997 - Dan Garvey
  • 1996 - Tom Smith
  • 1995 - McClellan Hall
  • 1994 - Robert S. MacArthur
  • 1993 - Dick Kraft
  • 1992 - Bert Horwood
  • 1991 - Diane Hedin (given by Dan Conrad)
  • 1990 - Gregory Farrell
  • 1989 - Richard O. Kimball
  • 1988 - Jim Kielsmeier
  • 1987 - Betty van der Smissen
  • 1986 - Alec Dickson
  • 1985 - Willi Unsoeld (given by Jolene Unsoeld)
  • Removed
  • 1983 - Joe Nold