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.
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...
From Data to Green Spaces: Sustainability at Eastern Michigan University
When I joined Eastern Michigan University’s President’s Commission on Sustainability last year, I stepped into a legacy of progress. Established in 2018 by President James Smith, the commission was created to evaluate and elevate EMU’s sustainability initiatives—and...
Building Community and Connection: Launching Place-Based Learning on the Huron River
Happy December! As I look out the window at the falling snow, it’s hard to believe that just a few months ago our SEMIS Coalition members were beginning the school year by adventuring outdoors to launch their place-based learning. One of the many wonderful things...
Green Solutions, Green STEM
Walking the grounds near the Ypsilanti Community District Offices in winter, you’ll encounter a dozen slim trunks of leafless trees encircled by a protective netting. Continuing west, underneath the slope of a snow covered hill, hides a prairie ecosystem resplendent...
Director’s Corner November 2025
Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, Earlier this month, the SEMIS Coalition co-hosted the 9th National Place-Based Education Conference with the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, bringing over 500 educators from across the country (and around the world) together in...
Director’s Corner October 2025
Dear SEMIS Coalition Members, This time last year, as I was writing this monthly blog, I found myself thinking about the changing of seasons, how the seasons connect to our collaborative and individual processes of transformation, and the power of relationships to...