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Author: Mara Spears, CEP Project Specialist Staff, Elana Burns, Communications Content Student Assistant

From Groundswell to You

   RSVP for Student Project Showcase

   Community Partners at Showcase

   Nominate a Deserving Teacher for the Swell Award

   Deadline Extended for Stewardship Project Participation

   Research Your Issue: Climate Change + Student Dialogue Webinar Recording

Friends of Groundswell

   Join Pleasant Peninsula in Protecting the Great Lakes

   Unlock the Power of Trees with i-Tree

   Aquaponics Curriculum Highlights STEM, Sustainable Ag

The annual Student Project Showcase is an engaging public event open to educators, community members, students, and families. Each year, students who have participated in our program's stewardship projects are invited to display their work in an interactive, exhibit-style format at GVSU’s Pew Campus. This event celebrates the achievements of our pK-12 student stewards and gives them the opportunity to share about their work with family, friends, and the public. Community partners, including local nonprofits, businesses, and organizations that have collaborated with the schools, also join in to engage and highlight their contributions to these efforts. Come picnic outdoors on the GVSU Devos lawn, meet the next generation of environmental stewards, and learn about their conservation efforts at this unique public event. 

We are excited to host you, and although this event is at no cost to you, it helps us plan if you RSVP. 

Click the button below to tell Groundswell you'll be there for our 2025 Showcase!

To help spread the word, we offer downloadable .pdfs for you to print and distribute to other classes or around school, for parents and families, and to give to community partners you want to invite. 

Click the links below to download our .pdf flyers. 

RSVP forms for schools are coming soon!

Join local PK12 scholars, educators, administrators, and their friends and family at this community celebration event! The 2025 Groundswell Student Project Showcase brings together students from local schools in an exhibit-style public event with over 450 attendees. Showcase is meant to be interactive for students, friends, and family this year. If you host a table, please bring activities for pK-12 students and parents.

This year, you can support as a partner at showcase in one of two ways:

1. Attend as a community partner to mingle and enjoy. No tabling.

OR

2. Table the event with your organization's literature, a hands-on experience, and/or demonstrate your work. 

This is an opportunity for partners like you who have worked with our schools to engage with those scholars, answer questions and chat with their friends and family, and get exposure for your organization within our vast Groundswell network.

Whichever option you choose, we ask that you RSVP!

Do you know an educator in the Groundswell network who really shines? Do you admire them for their outstanding impact? Nominate them for the Swell Teacher of the Year!

Each year we celebrate teachers who are actively engaged in the Groundswell community and making a lasting difference in their school. We ask our community to lift up one of the great individuals who make stewardship in our classrooms and place-based learning really happen. Nominate a someone who is deeply involved in the Groundswell community, fostering stewardship, and driving meaningful change. Click the button below to begin. 

Pleasant Peninsula connects environmentalists, educators, and activists through initiatives like their Speaker Series, annual Activism Fair, and research-based mural projects. This summer, Pleasant Peninsula is hosting our July 26th Mural Festival, where art and advocacy come together. YOU can apply to host a booth and share your work!

Groundswell is proud to support this initiative, helping to amplify voices for environmental action. Apply today at the link below!

Looking to better understand and manage your local forests? i-Tree, a cutting-edge software suite from the USDA Forest Service, provides powerful tools to assess trees' structure, environmental impact, and economic benefits in urban and rural settings. Since its launch in 2006, communities, nonprofits, consultants, volunteers, and students worldwide have used i-Tree to analyze everything from individual trees to entire cities and states. By quantifying the ecosystem services that trees provide, i-Tree helps link forest management efforts to environmental quality and community well-being. Whether you're assessing a single tree or planning large-scale conservation efforts, i-Tree delivers data-driven insights to support informed decision-making.

Join in on this incredible citizen science effort and explore the full range of tools at the button below.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) has launched Aquaponics: Farming Fish, Growing Greens, a new curriculum that introduces students to sustainable agriculture while reinforcing STEM skills. Aquaponics—a system where fish and plants grow together—offers a hands-on way to explore water quality, environmental science, and food production. Designed for educators with or without an existing system, the curriculum includes 10 lessons aligned with Next Generation Science Standards, engaging students in reading comprehension, data analysis, and math. IISG has already helped six high schools in Illinois and Indiana set up aquaponics systems, providing students with real-world experience in sustainable farming!

For more information, visit the IISG website linked below.

Questions? Please contact Groundswell at groundswell@gvsu.edu.