Northport Public School students in grades 5 through 11 will take part in a super-local, place-based learning experience surrounding freshwater literacy during the 2020-2021 school year. This project, funded through a collaboration between the MiSTEM Network, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy, Michigan Department of Education, the Office of Labor and Economic Opportunity, and Grand Valley State University, is intended to grow Michigan’s next generation of water stewards, leaders, skilled workers, and decision-makers needed to solve complex water issues.

The grant recipients for this “From Students to Stewards” initiative include: Allegan Area Educational District; Comstock Public Schools; Copper Country Intermediate School District; Les Cheneaux Community Schools; Niles Community Schools; and Northport Public School.

Says Drea Weiner, MiSTEM Network Regional Director for northwest Michigan, “Northport Public School wrote a grant proposal that was founded on their long history of project- and place-based learning where partners supported the students’ learning using the community resources like the local watershed.”

Northport Public School principal and project director Andrea Burks explains, “Since 1984, our seniors have developed a project that meets a community need. That long tradition of project-based learning is why we were competitive in this grant. Now we have the opportunity to utilize those place-based learning principals through multiple grades.”

Burks says while exact partnerships with leaders in the community are still in the works (and dependent on protocols for the safe return of students to school in the fall), the intent is to create hyperlocal field experiences for students with members of municipal and tribal resource management groups, the Inland Seas Education Association, and other agencies that protect the region’s watershed.

Burks says the hope is that students will discover many types of careers available in the STEM field regionally.

She adds that Northport Public School will partner with science teachers and students at Leland Public School for many of the field experiences. “We rely on each other’s content expertise,” she says. “The collaboration is a commitment to the region that we all share.”

Adds Weiner, “We are fortunate to have rich regional resources like Lake Michigan at our back door and we are excited to work with teachers to expand upon current STEM and project-based learning that will cultivate student interest and opportunities in water stewardship.”