The Flint River Environmental Leaders were at Genesee County Day on Saturday, June 1 at Crossroads Village. They were providing information about how to deal with household hazardous waste. FREL interacted with 485 people at the event.
FREL would like everyone in Genesee County to know that there is a flyer listing all of the places that take different kinds of household waste. Here is a link to that flyer.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BXO9y76m5nx6Uuo3YSX77C-AonU5QnL_hLrUXCUHa9g/edit
On Wednesday, May 22, nine of the 19 teachers who did water quality testing with their students attended the GREEN Student Summit. There were 300 students in attendance at Kettering University.
Students presented their water quality test results. Eight different presentations from professional people in the science and environmental world were going on throughout the day as well.
Students got to experience a science conference. They were exposed to topics including benthic monitoring, the difference between storm drains and sewer systems, PFAS, recycling, ways to reduce your carbon footprint, and how an art teacher did the Salmon in the Classroom program with his students.
Flint River GREEN will host its Student Summit at Kettering University on May 22, 2024.
The spring 2024 water quality testing window is from April 15 to May 6.
Reminder to all GREEN teachers and mentors. The Kit Refresher training is Tuesday, March 5 at the GISD from 4:00-6:30 PM. Bring your GREEN Notebook.
GREEN program training logistics will now be communicated via a series of videos. This is REQUIRED for new GREEN teachers. All 6th – 12th grade teachers working within the Flint River watershed are welcome to participate in this approximately 5 hour virtual series in order to participate in the Flint River GREEN program.
Guest Presenters:
The Flint River Watershed Coalition’s Youth Education Program is piloting a new afterschool program in collaboration with the Genesee Intermediate School District’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers program and Genesee County Parks’ For-Mar Nature Center and Arboretum. We are currently working with three sites serving middle and high school students to develop an out-of-school time (OST) watershed STEM curriculum grounded in water quality monitoring and related data-driven and youth-led community action projects.
The organizations above in partnership with Discovering PLACE, Michigan State University Extension, and the MiSTEM Network have been in collaboration since 2019 to construct a framework for professional development that cross-trains staff and engages students in Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences in the OST environment. This mutually beneficial staff training has expanded capacity, increased the sustainability of multiple community partnerships, and serves as a resource for others seeking to utilize freshwater place-based enrichment to strengthen OST programming.
Funding for this project has been provided by the National Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is supported by the U.S. Department of Education.
The partnerships developed through this project will lead to sustainable OST programming options for schools, scouts, churches, neighborhood groups, and more!
Come back soon for updates or reach out to the Education Programs Manager for questions: email Autumn Mitchell or dial (810)-767-9491.
