Summer Institute 2025

Summer Institute 2025 Photo Journal

One of our favorite times of the year at the SEMIS Coalition is the Annual Summer Institute where we have the opportunity to spend a dedicated week fully immersed with educators and community partners embedded in place-based learning to prepare for the upcoming school year. Every summer, we spend the week in a variety of locations throughout southeast Michigan, often outdoors, learning from community partners, educators and the places themselves. This year, the participants created a strong and unique learning community which will help keep them grounded in place-based learning during the upcoming school year, even in challenging times.

Monday, July 28th was a hot one and we were thankful to have spent it on the Detroit River! Day One LAUNCHED into examples of ways to begin place-based education (PBE) experiences through exploration of place. Some of the activities included mindful wandering, mapping and hearing wisdom from local experts. With a cool and constant breeze from the Detroit River, we also explored the many ways individuals in the group arrived at this moment and the paths taken in The River of Life activity.

Participants gathered for PBE learning and connections in the shade of the Shed at Valade Park (left) and along the Detroit River (right).

Participants created a map of Valade Park using a social-ecological lens, noticing their surroundings and recording locations like places where people gather, aquatic habitat, source of pollution, and a place where they see connectedness.

A truly warm welcome from The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy’s Renee Rodriguez and everyone who staffs the Robert C. Valade Park (left). A great lunch-time presentation from David Porter, who leads University of Michigan’s Detroit River Story Lab (right).

The fantastic team at Ypsilanti Community Schools’ Ford STEAM Early Learning Center helped us kick off Day Two of the 2025 Summer Institute on Tuesday, July 29th. We learned how bringing a school-wide PBE project to the district’s youngest learners sets the foundation for place-based learning across Ypsilanti Community School campuses. Following an incredible tour of Ford STEAM ELC’s courtyard and makerspace, we gathered at Eastern Michigan University for lunch and reflection, heard from Jacinda Bowman, an experienced teacher about her PBE process, and shared open planning time. What a rich day filled with Place-Based Learning in Action!

Huge thanks to:

~ Turquoise Neal, Ypsilanti Community Schools Magnet Program (left)

~ Farmer TC Collins, Community Partner, Willow Run Acres (right)

~ Laura McKinstry, STEAM Coach/Coordinator for Ford STEAM ELC (left)

~ Staci Dempsey, Instructional Coach at Ford STEAM ELC (middle)

~ Jacinda Bowman, Middle School Science Teacher and Master Place-Based Educator (right)

Day Three of our Summer Institute helped us BUILD our learning and was filled with fabulous field experiences at Rouge Park in Detroit and the Environmental Interpretive Center (EIC) at University of Michigan-Dearborn. On Wednesday, July 30th, we explored prairie and forest ecosystems with Friends of Rouge Park and Black to the Land, and conducted a pond study with EIC staff.

Participants explore the prairie habitat in Rouge Park and work as teams to “rename” plants through observations, based on the Botany Bouquet lesson from Earth Partnerships for Schools.

Thank you to the wonderful community partners who spent their day with us!

~ Lindsay Pielack, Friends of Rouge Park

~ Antonio Cosme, Friends of Rouge Park and Black to the Land

Dorothy McCleer and staff from the UM-Dearborn EIC gave participants a chance to explore the aquatic world of macroinvertebrates.

After Wednesday, we moved from the “Launch” and “Build” phases of our week into exploring the “Act” phase of PBE. Environmental Civic Action Projects in Ypsilanti (and a break in the heat!) highlighted Day 4 of our Summer Institute. We began at Peninsular Park where community partners from Huron River Watershed Council and Ypsilanti City Council led an exploration of the Peninsular Dam removal project and its ecological and human impacts.

The day was made possible by our amazing SEMIS Coalition partners and teachers:

~ Matt Siegfried, SEMIS Historian (left)

~ Steve Wilcoxen, Ypsilanti City Council (right)

~ Daniel Brown, Climate Resilience Strategist, Huron River Watershed Council (bottom)

The afternoon brought sunshine and an opportunity to explore incredible student action projects at Ypsilanti Community High School. We toured rain and vegetable gardens, a prairie, an orchard, and the Grizzly Woods— all created through years of student/teacher/community partnership and action at YCHS. What an inspiration!

The afternoon was made possible by:

~ Laurel Wiinikka-Buesser, Botany Teacher, Ypsilanti Community High School

~ Aiden Bodary, Student, Ypsilanti Community High School

After journeying through Launch/Build/Act this week, Friday was for the final phase of PBE— “Celebrate!” On the final day of the Summer Institute, we gathered at EMU to reflect on the place-based experiences we shared this week and to celebrate the incredible gifts our members bring to the SEMIS Coalition.