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

From Groundswell to You

   Register for Dinner & Dialogue 

   Groundswell Project How-To's and Submissions

   Resources in the Place-Space

   Tracking PBE Hours

Friends of Groundswell

   GRPM Educator Night

   Allendale 6th Graders Publish Article in MLSA Magazine

   Allegheny College Creek Connections

Join Groundswell staff, partners and educators for our annual Dinner and Dialogue! Dinner and a drink are on us as a thank you for all that you do in our community as educators and partners. 

In theme with Developing Community Partnerships, we will be facilitating speed-networking during this event. By the end of the evening, every educator will have met every partner in the room!

What to expect: 

    Date: Wednesday, October 29th, 2025

    Time: 5:00PM - 7:30PM

    Location: L. William Seidman Center

    50 Front Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504

    Cost: Free to attend

    SCECH: 2.5

Are you an educator interested in practicing place-based education? Submit a brainstorm document to work with Groundswell for the 2025-2026 academic year. Groundswell staff work with you to design a project that engages your class, emphasizes student inquiry, and partners your school with two or more community organizations that enhance your project. 

Using our updated website, learn how to fill out a brainstorm document and explore resources on our Google Drive! Get started now, as project spots are limited. 

Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI) hosts an online platform with place-based education resources and network channels. By joining this forum, you can chat with educators in your area or across Michigan, be the first to hear about free workshops and fellowships with the GLSI, and access guiding documents to help you conduct place-based stewardship education with your students! The Place-Space is also where conference information will land, before and after November!

What You'll Gain by Joining the Place-Space:

At Groundswell, much of our support for stewardship projects comes from grants—and those grants rely on data that shows the real impact of our work. We know teachers are taking students outside all the time, and we want to make sure those efforts are recognized and supported! By keeping your own record of outdoor teaching hours, you’re helping us tell the story of how place-based stewardship education is making a difference. These numbers help secure future funding and demonstrate student learning beyond the classroom. Below is a quick Google Form to track your time practicing PBE with your students; consider bookmarking this on your browser to easily access it! 

Click the button below to track your weekly PBE hours.

Visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum after hours for an exclusive event for educators connected to the traveling exhibit Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family. Join other educators to learn how to incorporate Tyrannosaurs into your curricular goals or field trip schedule this school year.

       Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025

       Time: 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

       Location: Grand Rapids Public Museum 272 Pearl St NW

       Grand Rapids, MI, 49504

       Cost: FREE

Students from Allendale Middle School wrote and submitted an article to the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association (MLSA) quarterly Magazine, and were accepted! In their article, they discuss the Chinook salmon they have released into the Sevey drain, a small creek on their Allendale Public Schools Campus, and how this release has affected the biodiversity of macroinvertibrates in this water. 

Learn more and purchase the magazine below. 

Creek Connections, based at Allegheny College, has been supporting teachers and students in hands-on water quality education for over 25 years. Their Teacher Resource Center offers lesson plans, classroom kits, interactive activities, and so much more. All to help bring watershed science alive. We partner with Creek Connections to share resources that strengthen environmental education across Michigan and beyond.

Our brilliant 6th-grade students (see their article above) from Allendale Middle School often work with this great resource center.  Check it out at the link below!

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