by Lisa Voelker | Mar 18, 2025 | Blog, Events, Youth Voice
Student Showcase The Student Showcase during STEAM Week was fantastic! It was easy to see the passions shine through students’ understanding of the academics. Topics ranged from architecture to shelter designs for emergencies. One student started a garden club, seeds...
by Anna Balzer | Feb 19, 2025 | Blog, Place-Based Education
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Dear SEMIS Coalition, At the close of our Winter Professional Development day in late January, the 50 teachers, principals, community partners, and SEMIS Coalition team members in attendance gathered in a circle to...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 18, 2025 | Blog, Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials
Everyone is an educator; everyone is a learner. We respect the dignity, professionalism, and creativity of educators, both formal and informal, and approach interactions with love, grace, flexibility, humor, and fun. (SEMIS Coalition Principle 7) At our Winter...
by Willie King III | Jan 13, 2025 | Blog, Youth Voice
Bri Antwon Wilson (bottom photo), a senior, and Seligmin Foster (top photo), a 2023 graduate who has remained deeply involved as an alumnus. Detroit Community Schools (DCS) is more than an institution to me—it’s a cornerstone of my identity and growth. My enduring...
by Anna Balzer | Jan 13, 2025 | Blog
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Dear SEMIS Coalition, Though I’m certain I’m not the first, let me be among the many to welcome you into this new year and this new quarter century! If you are like me, you may be taking time to reflect on your...
by Anna Balzer | Dec 16, 2024 | Blog
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Dear SEMIS Coalition, As we approach the end of another calendar year, I’d like to take a moment to share my gratitude for all this year – and especially this community – have brought to place-based...
by Lisa Voelker | Nov 25, 2024 | Arts in PBE, Blog, Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Guest author: Jenna Sabolboro, Upper Elementary
Above: Students ride the yellow school bus to the trails on Belle Isle! They are heading for an adventure in photography and to document evidence of wildlife habitat in Detroit. Fourth grade students from The James and Grace Lee Boggs School researched adaptations...
by SEMIS Coalition | Nov 15, 2024 | Blog
Help deepen our ecosystem of support! Since 2007, the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition has facilitated school-community partnerships rich with opportunities that develop students and educators as change makers for healthy ecological-social systems. Our...
by Anna Balzer | Nov 11, 2024 | Blog
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Dear SEMIS Coalition, Many years ago, I attended a training that opened with an invitation onto ‘the balcony’. This balcony wasn’t a physical place, but a metaphorical higher vantage point on which to rest, reflect,...
by Willie King III | Nov 11, 2024 | Blog, Youth Voice
Art with Purpose: Tolu’s Story On Monday, October 14th, I had the privilege of interviewing Toluwaleyi’ Meadows, a 12th grader at Renaissance High School. I first met Tolu last year in Emily Phillips’ IB Biology class, where they were selected to participate in...
by Anna Balzer | Oct 17, 2024 | Blog
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Hello SEMIS Coalition! There are several points every year that bring the word ‘transformation’ to mind for me, but none so readily as fall. Watching the trees transform from bright greens to even brighter shades of...
by Willie King III | Sep 16, 2024 | Blog, Community Partners, Youth Voice
Youth Voice and Power with members of Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM) Earlier this month, I had the privilege of interviewing two members of DAYUM (Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan), each offering unique insights into the organization’s evolution and...
by Anna Balzer | Sep 16, 2024 | Blog
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Dear SEMIS Coalition members, Welcome to the start of another new school year! We’ve been hearing so much from our teachers and community partners over the past few weeks about your plans for the upcoming year and we...
by Anna Balzer | Jul 9, 2024 | Blog, Gratitude, Power of Community, SEMIS Staff Spotlight
Greetings SEMIS Coalition members! I am so honored and excited to be serving as the new Director for the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition and to be working within and across this powerful, and hopeful community. If we haven’t met yet, my name is Anna Balzer...
by SEMIS Coalition | Jun 20, 2024 | Blog, College / University, Community Partners, Environmental Sustainability, Events, Press Release, Transformational Partnership
Grant to expand high-demand, Eco-STEM Place-Based Learning across southeast Michigan. SEMIS Coalition plans to host engaging and educational events with the new funding. (Photo by Leisa Thompson) YPSILANTI — The Southeast Michigan Stewardship (SEMIS) Coalition at...
by SEMIS Coalition | Mar 15, 2024 | Blog, Civic Engagement
Director's Corner: Strengthening Democracy through Place-Based EducationElection season is upon us and it is tempting to focus on voting as the most important action a person can take to protect democracy. And indeed voting is critically important. But democratic...
by SEMIS Coalition | Jan 4, 2024 | Blog, Grants / Funding, Place-Based Education
Community care grows from common ground.Our 20K goal was met thanks to your support! As we start off 2024, the year that I transition out of the directorship—a position I’ve dedicated a good portion of my career to—I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my own...
by SEMIS Coalition | Dec 5, 2023 | Blog, Events, Place-Based Education
Image Description: Five James & Grace Lee Boggs School Students and their educator, Jacinda Bowman, after their presentation titled “How Student-Led Environmental Justice Teams Organized the First Annual Boggs Earth Day Event.” Photo taken at the 2023...
by SEMIS Coalition | Nov 21, 2023 | Blog, Civic Engagement, College / University, Community Partners, Environmental Sustainability, Events, Gratitude
In nature, we see the beauty of succession, where ecosystems evolve over time, each generation building upon the legacy of the last. As stewards of our environment, we too must invest in a sustainable future for the generations to come.The SEMIS Coalition is dedicated...
by SEMIS Coalition | Nov 1, 2023 | Blog, College / University, Humanizing Education
During this incredibly painful and difficult time in the world, we would like to amplify this message from the President at EMU:October 18, 2024 “To the Eastern Michigan University community, As we return from what I hope was a restful Fall Break, it’s incumbent...
by SEMIS Coalition | Oct 27, 2023 | Blog, College / University, Environmental Sustainability, Events, Press Release
NOAA Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program announced $941,100 in funding for seven environmental education projects throughout the Great Lakes basin. Great Lakes B-WET awards are funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative....
by SEMIS Coalition | Aug 17, 2023 | Blog, Summer Institute
Image Description: Attendees stare up at an unusual sighting of a fish skull that had been dropped by a bird of prey into a decaying tree trunk at the Detroit River International Wildlife RefugeThe SEMIS Coalition’s Annual Summer Institute took place July 24-27,...
by SEMIS Coalition | Jul 18, 2023 | Blog, Environmental Sustainability, Press Release
NOAA Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program announced $941,100 in funding for seven environmental education projects throughout the Great Lakes basin. Great Lakes B-WET awards are funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative....
by SEMIS Coalition | Mar 15, 2023 | Blog, STEM
The Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition is honored to have received the 2023 MiSTEM Critical Partner Award.Read the Eastern Michigan University newsletter article and Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity press release.Acceptance Remarks –...
by SEMIS Coalition | Nov 19, 2022 | Blog, Civic Engagement, Community Forum 2022, Humanizing Education, Power of Community
It is a pure delight to share my experience at the 2022 SEMIS Coalition Community Forum held at Bob’s Lake House on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. Before I go any further with how wonderful the day was, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Audra...
by Sarah Halson | Oct 31, 2022 | Blog, Humanizing Education, Place-Based Education
By: Susan Kinsky As place-based educators, we facilitate relationships: between people, with students, with community members, and with the places we study. I want to focus on emotional relationships and connections with places. I don’t think this is separate from...
by Sarah Halson | Jul 29, 2022 | Blog, Civic Action / Leadership, climate change, Curriculum, High School
TEACHING THROUGH A KING LENS By Willie King III Through my many experiences as an educator, I have found that the spark never really disappears; the flame just looks different. Transitioning into the second semester of the 2021-2022 school year as an official SEMIS...
by Sarah Halson | Jun 30, 2022 | Blog, Civic Engagement, Curriculum, Place-Based Education, Upper Elementary, Water Quality / Studies
“I thought I knew everything there was to know about water, but I didn’t know water was everywhere!” proclaimed a 6th grade student during their final presentation to community members after a month-long unit on stormwater. This student was one of almost 300 students...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 31, 2022 | Blog, climate change, Community Forum 2022, Events, Gratitude, Humanizing Education, Intergenerational Dialogue, Power of Community, Youth Voice
Welcome to this year’s SEMIS Community Forum and the third event in our Forum series this week! This is the first time we’ve had an in-person Community Forum in 3 years and the first time we’ve ever had it outside, so this is a very happy moment for all of us in the...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 31, 2022 | Blog, Community Forum 2022, Events, Humanizing Education, Youth Voice
We want to welcome everyone to the first day of our Community Forum events and thank you for being here today. We know that, especially during this phase of the pandemic, showing up in community, especially online, takes effort and commitment. The fact that close to...
by SEMIS Coalition | Dec 7, 2021 | Blog, Humanizing Education
We would like to express our sadness and sorrow over the tragic loss and trauma the Oxford High School community is experiencing. Our hearts are with all those who have been impacted. Youth deaths through gun violence have taken the lives of many this year in...
by SEMIS Coalition | Sep 21, 2021 | Blog, Gratitude
With great sadness, we announce the passing of Mariann Lupinacci-Kosinski on April 9, 2021. We would like to take this moment to express our deep love for her and our gratitude for all that she brought to the Coalition and the world. As the principal of John Paul II...
by SEMIS Coalition | Sep 21, 2021 | Blog, Humanizing Education, Power of Community, Readings
I took a vacation this summer. Maybe you did too. It was not enough. Not enough to heal, rest, and re-set my body and mind after close to two years of constant tension and stress. As we head into the school year, let’s remember to: Listen to our bodies—We are...
