Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative

10/13/2026

We've added a lot of new followers over the past couple of weeks, so here is a brief introduction to GLSI for our new friends!

Our work is to empower and support young people to develop into the next generation of leaders that will care for their communities as part of the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world - the Great Lakes Basin.

We do this work by helping students, educators, and community partners take learning beyond the classroom and into the places we are most connected to–our communities and local environments–and to take action on behalf of those places.

GLSI is an organization, but it is also a network of regional teams (GLSI Hubs) and host organizations that work collaboratively to implement the GLSI mission locally throughout Michigan and across the Great Lakes region.

Want to get involved? Check out our new website at glsinetwork.org to learn more or find your local GLSI Hub below:

Discovering PLACE
SEMIS Coalition
Groundswell Stewardship Initiative
Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative
Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative
West Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative

10/12/2026

A great opportunity to be a part of the GLSI community, mission, and network based at Grand Valley State University in downtown Grand Rapids: Groundswell Stewardship Initiative is hiring for a full-time Place-based Education Specialist! Check it out and learn more with the link in the comments!

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10/09/2026

We are proud to share that Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative was recently recognized by the Michigan Alliance for Environmental & Outdoor Education (MAEOE) with the Impact in Environmental Education Award, specifically recognizing programmatic and educator training impacts throughout the western Upper Peninsula led by Dr. Erika Vye and Lloyd Wescoat.

The LSSI team does an incredible job of sustaining place-based stewardship education opportunities in schools and communities throughout a large, rural region, while also bringing together an incredible network of local-regional partners to weave diverse perspectives and values, regional career pathways, and local issues into youth programs and educator professional learning.

Congrats to the incredible folks at LSSI on this well-earned recognition, and HUGE gratitude for Copper Country Intermediate School District and Michigan Technological University for their ongoing support and leadership as GLSI Hub host institutions!

10/08/2026

Yesterday afternoon, we launched the Fall 2026 Cohort of the Great Lakes Place-Based Educators Institute with 35 PK-12 educators from throughout Michigan. Today, we've opened the application for the Winter 2027 Cohort, with the institute scheduled to run January 7th through February 18th.

Apply today to take your next steps in connecting student learning to the community and local environment and become a part of GLSI's Great Lakes Place-Based Educator Network! Application link 👇

10/07/2026

Join us for the next Michigan Early Childhood Outdoors (MiECO) Monthly webinar on October 20th from 4-5pm ET on Zoom!

Christian Boyer, Lead Teacher at Red Tailed Hawks Outdoor Preschool & MiECO Advisory Council member, will share individual and shared classroom/school gear recommendations, as well as strategies to support every student with access to clothing, footwear, and outerwear for year-round outdoor learning and exploration. As the fall colors take hold and chilly days await around the corner, come ready to take your next (or first) step with outdoor and nature-based early childhood care and learning in all seasons!

GLSI is the lead facilitating organization behind Michigan Early Childhood Outdoors, a collaborative statewide effort of numerous organizations and agencies with a purpose to increase early childhood access to nature-based learning, play, and community connections throughout Michigan communities.

10/06/2026

We are thrilled to announce GLSI's 20th Anniversary Campaign as we launch into a year of celebrating and reflecting on the first two decades of GLSI's growth and impact!

For 20 years, the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative has supported hundreds of thousands of K-16 youth and educators who've developed and implemented Great Lakes Stewardship Action Projects in partnership with their schools, local universities, community organizations, municipalities, and supporters. Together, the GLSI Network has meaningfully helped protect and improve the natural, cultural, and civic resources that make Michigan and the Great Lakes Basin extraordinary, while also helping to shape and advance the field of place-based education.

Now we're asking you to help us build into the next 20 years of connecting people, place, and purpose in the Great Lakes Basin.

✨ Spark belonging.

🧭 Discover purpose.

💪 Empower the next generation of Great Lakes Stewards.

Every gift, big or small, gets K-16 students outside, hands-on in addressing issues in their communities, and invested in the future of our shared home–the largest surface freshwater system on the planet. Join us today 👇

Groundswell Stewardship Initiative
Discovering PLACE
SEMIS Coalition
Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative
Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative
West Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative

09/23/2026

Have you heard!? The National Place-Based Education Conference returns to Southeast Michigan October 20-22, 2027! This one will be extra special, as we'll be celebrating the 10th conference and 20th anniversary of GLSI...kicking off on 10/20, of course!

Gather your collaborators, insights, stories, and ideas–the Call for Presentation/Workshop/Story Spot/Experiential Learning Proposals will open later this fall!

🎶 - 2025 Keynote Artist May Erlewine, performing live at the Place-Based Celebration (with fantastic backing vocals on the chorus from the best conference community in the world)

The National PBE Conference is organized and facilitated by GLSI in partnership with 2027 host hub, SEMIS Coalition, with support from their host institution, Eastern Michigan University.

Conference planning is shared across the GLSI Network with Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Groundswell Stewardship Initiative, SEMIS Coalition, Discovering PLACE, and West Michigan GLSI.

09/18/2026

Earlier this week, we held our annual meetings for the GLSI Board of Directors and the GLSI Network, bringing together our teams from throughout Michigan, as well as Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio.

We gathered for 2.5 days in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hosted at Grand Valley State University by GLSI's local hub, Groundswell Stewardship Initiative. We also spent time in Muskegon, home base for the West Michigan GLSI hub, and sampled Muskegon Lake water quality indicators aboard one of GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute's research vessels.

This gathering was special, as we welcomed several new board members for their first in-person meeting with GLSI, and as we reflected on the first 20 years of GLSI and prepared to celebrate the milestone in 2027.

Together, we created a strong sense of purpose and direction for the year ahead as we work to connect Great Lakes youth to purposeful, place-based opportunities to explore, learn, grow as leaders, and take on meaningful actions that help shape the future of the Great Lakes Basin and their communities.

From Copper Harbor to Detroit, Alpena to Grand Rapids, Flint to Muskegon, and throughout the Great Lakes Basin, the GLSI Network has a special story to tell about our first twenty years, and an essential mission to push forward with, together as a network. We can't wait to share more in the coming months!

Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative
Discovering PLACE
Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative
Groundswell Stewardship Initiative
SEMIS Coalition

09/12/2026

Educators: we have two cost-free programs that launch in October, both with very limited space remaining!

The Great Lakes Place-Based Educator Institute provides in-depth professional learning for educators interested in, or just getting started with, using place-based approaches to teaching and student learning.

The Place-Based Educator Fellowship provides a school year-long professional learning and consultation for educators with intermediate-to-advanced place-based teaching experience who are ready to go further with the support of GLSI and peer educators from throughout the GLSI Network.

Both programs are facilitated by GLSI's place-based education specialists, Patty Tolly and Katie See. Patty and Katie each bring a full career's worth of experience in formal education, and more than a decade each in the classroom (Patty) and school leadership (Katie) focused on place-based stewardship education implementation with GLSI Hubs.

These programs are supported through grant awards from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, Great Lakes B-WET, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Links below. Join us this fall!

09/05/2026

We are excited to launch a free monthly conversation/webinar/peer networking series, the MiECO Monthly! GLSI is the lead facilitating organization behind Michigan Early Childhood Outdoors, a collaborative statewide effort of numerous organizations and agencies with a purpose to increase early childhood access to nature-based learning, play, and community connections throughout Michigan communities.

For our first MiECO Monthly, we'll be joined on September 22nd by Mischele McManus (MiLEAP) and John Vincent (ODC Network) to explore opportunities to increase statewide access to, participation in, and support for outdoor and nature-based early childhood care and learning programs. Join us to dive into strategies and resources for integrating Michigan's Great Start Readiness Program (cost-free PreK) into Early Childhood Nature-Based Programs across the state.

Register using the QR code or the link below!