Newaygo County Environmental Coalition is proud to coordinate MI Green Schools for Newaygo County. On January 18th, NCEC Board member, Katie Clark, presented Scott Sherman, principal of Fremont High School, and Julie Anderson, FHS MI Green School Coordinator and orchestra teacher, the school’s Michigan Green Schools Emerald Award and EGLE Green Schools flag to display.
A school is eligible to receive a Green School, Emerald School, or Evergreen School Environmental Stewardship Designation if the school or students perform the required number of activities, with a minimum of two activities from each of the four categories: recycling, energy, environmental protection, and miscellaneous adopting and endangered species and publicizing the activity. “I saw that the coordinator position was open last year, and I like to do my part to be environmentally responsible; plus, as the orchestra teacher, this position allows me to work with more of our student population. I’m hoping to continue to grow the program.”
Fremont Public Schools (FPS) are all active in the MI Green Schools Program. The high school has a Conservation Club where students meet every Wednesday to plan and learn about conservation. They have battery recycling, the Redpine wetland trail lined with native plants that students planted and maintain, and they are even working with local farms such as Roossink Farms to provide farm to table options in their lunch cafeteria. Pathfinder Elementary, FPS, earned the title of an Official Michigan Green School! Green Schools is a non-profit agency that encourages and recognizes Michigan schools that focus on environmental stewardship. Pathfinder earns points for doing and teaching different environmentally friendly activities. “We earn points by doing activities that fit each category like having speakers, doing earth friendly projects, and having an environment friendly school, “ stated Jodi Ferris, Pathfinder Principal. Daisy Brook Elementary has a policy to purchase recycled and biodegradable supplies, preferring locally produced and even participating in activities that promote the health of the Great Lakes watershed.
Fremont Middle School has been participating in the Michigan Green Schools program since the school year 2011-2012. Teacher, Rachel Jaunese is the school’s coordinator. “FMS is an older building and was not designed with eco-friendliness in mind. We have to make conscious choices to meet the GREEN school criteria. We recycle paper products, plastics, and work with a company that recycles our plastic writing utensils. We have created wildlife habitat around our campus with native flower beds, bird feeding stations, and the Red Pine trail nature center. We also partner with universities and government agencies to participate in citizen science projects. We are very grateful for our new heating/cooling system that is energy efficient.”
“Michigan Green Schools is dedicated to assisting all Michigan schools, public and private, achieve environmental goals, which include protecting the air, land, water, and animals of our state along with world outreach through good ecological practices and the teaching of educational stewardship of students pre-kindergarten through high school.” The program started as an idea from some Michigan students and teachers in 2005, and it was presented as a bill in 2006, which was unanimously signed into legislation that same year. In its first official year, 18 schools participated, and in 2016 MI Green Schools program had over 650 Michigan schools engaged.
The new EGLE MI Green Schools portal has a wealth of resources for those participating. There are virtual trainings, resources schools can borrow for specific activities, and gathered resources for teachers under topics that are geared to environmental lessons specifically about Michigan air, water, land, climate, flora and fauna.
If your Newaygo County school would like to participate in the MI Green Schools program, just go to the EGLE MI Green Schools portal or reach out to Newaygo County Environmental Coalition at buzz@nc-ec.org. Sally Wagoner, NCEC founder, is this year’s Newaygo County MI Green Schools Coordinator. The online application for the 2022-2023 school year is due by March 1st, 2023.
Address: 490 Quarterline St, Newaygo, MI 49337
Email buzz@nc-ec.org
A cloud of road dust blanketed the car behind me from my excited acceleration as I passed the Newaygo Prairie Nature Sanctuary. Ignition time was in less than an hour. This was my very first burn.
“Vernal Pools are like our Coral Reefs of the Forest,” states Katie, Vice Chair and Program Manager of the Newaygo County Environmental Coalition (NCEC). “They are small, important wetlands that appear in spring and dry up during the fall. They are ideal breeding grounds for a variety of amphibians and invertebrates that would be vulnerable to lake or stream fish; the fairy shrimp, wood frogs, spotted and blue-spotted salamanders can only breed in Vernal pools. They even travel back to their birth Vernal pool to spawn.”
As humans, it makes sense that we often think of the Earth from our own point of view. We imagine it as a place with trees and meadows and houses and highways. We think of cities as places for people, roads as ways to get from one place to another. But this is only our experience, and there are about a billion others.