The SEMIS Coalition Blog
The place to connect, learn and share perspectives in place-based learning
Welcome to our SEMIS Coalition blog! A commons-based digital space for shared resources, images, and more. It’s a place for you to ask questions, interact with peers, and keep current with the latest Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition activities.
Browse through the most recent posts below, or browse past posts by category via the toolbar on the right.
Coalition Conversations: September 2026
Shaping Change through Place-Based Education & Career and Technical Education Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, Around this time last year, I was invited to serve as an advisory board member for a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) course at Ypsilanti Community...
Story Corner – Summer Institute 2026
While July is a quieter time for the schools in our Coalition, the SEMIS staff are busy preparing for one of our favorite weeks of the year– the Annual Summer Institute! Here’s a journal-style peek into some of the places we explored and activities we engaged in...
Story Corner
“Volunteering for Change”, “Oral History as Stewardship”, “Super Soil Worm Squad”, “Voices for Our Future” – these are just a few of the 40 youth-led presentation titles from this year’s SEMIS Coalition Annual Community Forum. On May 21st, we gathered at the EMU...
Story Corner April 2026
From Campus to Community: Launching Spring PBE Projects It is officially the season for outdoor projects—many of which begin right inside the classroom. Across SEMIS Coalition schools, exciting things are emerging as the sun warms, the earth awakens, and we...
Director’s Corner March 2026
Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, If you’ve been tuning into education news in Michigan lately, you’ve probably heard a lot about literacy. For several years, there has been coverage of falling literacy scores: Michigan’s reading proficiency rates (as measured by the...
Story Corner February 2026
Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, Did you grow up with a garden? Flowers, fruits, berries, and veggies. Those snap dragon flowers, pink, yellow and orange. I remember the beautiful black legged, yellow spider who guarded our blackberries when they returned, season after...
Director’s Corner January 2026
Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, I’m a big fan of Octavia Butler. I know that’s a strange way to welcome the new year and to start a blog that doesn’t typically engage in a lot of literary critique, but I promise I’ll connect it all. When I first started reading...
Director’s Corner December 2025
Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, Happy Winter Solstice! As you gear up to enjoy this busy season of celebration, we hope you are also finding some space for slowness, quiet, and renewal. Before our team disperses for our own time of rest and reflection, we’re excited to...
Outdoor Learning in Dearborn
I originally partnered with the SEMIS Coalition many years ago while working with The Greening of Detroit supporting tree plantings and outdoor classrooms in Detroit schools. My love for the outdoors and my hope to inspire that love in my community began as a child...
Diversity of knowledge is the core of our sustainable existence.
“The practice of observing the living world and taking inspirations for human ways of living from its model is an essential element of indigenous science. It embraces the reality that there are intelligences other than our own, from whom we might learn.” ― Robin Wall...