Program Press & News

*In September 2023, Coert Ambrosino joined David Fair for an interview on WEMU's "Issues of the Environment". Listen here.

*In June 2022, the "A2 Nature Guardians" summer camp was offered for the first time.  This Rec & Ed day camp was housed at the Freeman EE Center and coordinated by AAPS educators Coert Ambrosino and Nate Hatt. Renovating the front courtyard was a central component of the project-based curriculum of this camp program, offered for 7-10 year olds during two 1-week sessions. In addition to helping to design, prepare, and plant the front garden, campers also created an art installation connected to their learning about prairie plants and their root systems, played a variety of outdoor games, and even invented their own nature board games!  Check out an article and video about 'A2 Nature Guardians' here. 

*This January 2021 article in the Ann Arbor Observer looks back and looks forward on AAPS Environmental Education and district natural areas.

*November, 2019, longtime volunteer naturalist Tom Jameson was recognized in the AAPS District News as an "Exceptional Volunteer" . Tom was also honored with a Recognition Award by the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) at their annual conference in September 2019. Since 1992, Tom has volunteered more than 2,200 times for the Ann Arbor Public Schools EE Program, serving as a naturalist for programs including winter birds, life cycles study, habitat walks, pond dipping, gravel pit rocks and minerals study, and winter survival skill programs. Tom has demonstrated an incredible dedication to environmental interpretation and conservation in SE Michigan, volunteering extensively with the Huron River Watershed Council and the Waterloo Natural History Association in addition to his role as a volunteer naturalist with AAPS. Tom has a passion for teaching about the natural world for people of all ages, and his breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm for interpretation allow him to connect with diverse audiences and create lasting impacts. We are thankful for his many contributions and we congratulate him on this recognition from our statewide Environmental Education organization!

*In November 2019, 40+ students, staff, and community members came to the Pioneer Pond to volunteer for an outdoor work day. Activities included: clearing overgrowth around the amphitheater and pond access points (which we traditionally have used for 3rd grade pond habitat studies), trail maintenance, and invasive Buckthorn and Phragmites removal. It was hard work and we got a LOT accomplished. Big time thanks to UM's Circle K for sending volunteers to participate, and to Pioneer teachers Jenni Wilkening, Dave Russell, and Sarah Collada for helping to coordinate the event. Thanks also to Natural Areas Preservation (NAP) for lending us tools! EE Program staff were overjoyed to see so many students get involved and carry on the longtime tradition of environmental stewardship at Pioneer! Click here for a Pioneer Optimist story about the event written by a student journalist.

*October, 2019, Dave Szczygiel's public tour of the Fox Science Preserve is featured in the slideshow in this Mlive article about Ann Arbor's Greenbelt Program. Dave's presentation highlighted how the conservation of this land has provided an incredible resource to AAPS students studying geology.

*January, 2016, Ann Arbor Family Press, Donna Iadipaolo's article "AAPS Environmental Education Immerses Students in Nature," examines how EE field trips help kids "ditch the screen and dive into the outdoors."

*February, 2016, Ann Arbor Observer article "Green Gifts" highlights the Science and Environmental Education Endowment.

*November 16, 2009, AAPS article "In Ann Arbor, outdoors becomes classroom for kids" covers history of program and recent developments.

*Dave Szczygiel is featured in the AAPS "Exceptional Teachers" Column! Click HERE to read this great article on Dave and the EE Program, by Jo Mathis, and view the video.

In April 2023, EE Program staff and Freeman Environmental Youth Council members presented updates to the Board of Education. Click the photos below to view video recordings of the presentations.

In Fall 2022, we partnered with teachers from the AAPS International Baccalaureate program to host students from Huron High School for a launch day of their "Group 4" interdisciplinary research project at Freeman.  This year's project focused on invasive species, and students learned about and practiced management strategies for various invasive plant species common to SE Michigan. This day of service-learning inspired further collaboration, as members of Huron's National Honor Society returned to Freeman for a recent volunteer event to continue invasive plant removal efforts, create habitat brush piles, and plant native tree saplings.

Click here to see updates on the Freeman Environmental Education Center!

2020

*AAPS is working to add hardwood trees to school campuses with the "Elementary Playground Shade Tree" program. Click here to see a presentation that EE program staff compiled to help teach about the planting initiative.

*Check out the City of Ann Arbor's A2Zero Website, where you can find information about the city's "just transition to carbon neutrality by the year 2030"!

*The EE Program  Seeks “Wishlist” Items

People often approach us with offers of in-kind donations for the program.  We thought it might be useful to post a wishlist of items that we are currently seeking to help us facilitate student learning experiences. If you have items that you would like to donate and that you think would benefit our program, please email Dave Szczygiel (szczygie@aaps.k12.mi.us) and Coert Ambrosino (ambrosinoc@aaps.k12.mi.us).  Thank you!

Items we are currently seeking include:

• • ‘Lawn and Garden’ tools for outdoor service-learning and gardening activities

  • Warm gloves for back ups for students during winter programs

  • Unique natural artifacts that could be studied by students during programs or displayed at the Freeman EE Center

EE teacher Coert Ambrosino with a tool donation from Lowe’s on Jackson Road 

The Couture family of Ann Arbor recently donated a paper wasp nest to our collection of natural artifacts. 

2019:

    *John Russell, local environmental activist and former AAPS teacher, was recently featured on WEMU's "The Green Room" to talk about the beginning of the Earth Day movement in Ann Arbor.  You can read or listen to the story here. You can also take a look at this classic video about the Pioneer High School prairie restoration project in the 1990s!   

       *Speaking of the Pioneer Prairie, local contractors and naturalists around town took advantage of wet Spring weather to carry out prescribed burns, which mimic natural fires and help rejuvenate native grass and flower growth while reducing invasive plants.  Check out this drone footage of a recent burn at a prairie in Scio Township.

    *Check out this interview with Matt Doss from WEMU's "Issues of the Environment" program! At the time, Matt was the policy director of the Great Lakes Commission (As well as a Freeman EE Center advisory committee member!), and in this interview he spoke about past and future impacts of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

    *Congratulations to the Thurston Nature Center for winning a Washtenaw County water quality award!  Click here to see the story and here to see a great video from 1967 about student involvement in habitat restoration at Thurston!

*Apple Picking Party! The EE Program is always looking for ways to repurpose unwanted items within the district and put resources to use that would otherwise go to waste. Many of our fruit trees, such as those planted at Pioneer High School by former biology teacher John Russell, often go unharvested, leaving a rotting mess that has to be cleaned up by the grounds crew. When we noticed a bumper crop on apple trees at Pioneer and Freeman, we decided it was time for a picking party!  After work on a recent evening, Dave Szczygiel was joined by EE Program volunteers Jane and Dan Hayes, as well as Gabriella and Giana Porter, daughters of Pioneer Access and Opportunity Advocate Allen Porter, to harvest the ripe fruit. The apples, which are great for pie making, will be sold at Argus Farm Stop, with all proceeds benefiting the AAPS Science & Environmental Education Endowment Fund.

*Michigan to join the "Confluence of States" to promote the outdoor recreation industry~ Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently announced that Michigan is joining a nationwide consortium of states that work together "to build public awareness about the economic, social and public health benefits of outdoor play and provide a unified voice for the diverse businesses and organizations that make up the industry." While outdoor recreation already contributes to 230,000+ jobs in our state, this new initiative bodes well for students with aspirations of future careers in the industry. To learn more, read the DNR press release here.

*Service-learning in Mitchell-Scarlett Woods

Mitchell-Scarlett Woods has a long-running history of community activism and stewardship. See a presentation on the history of the Mitchell-Scarlett Woods here. In June 2019, the AAPS EE Program helped carry on this tradition by coordinating service-learning activities for Scarlett 7th Grade science students.

Students spruced up the pollinator garden, mulched trails, created informational posters, and surveyed organisms in the pond. They also created forest study plots where they surveyed the trees, removed invasive species, and planted Sugar Maple saplings. Great job, students!

    *AAPS EE Program Staff Visit Crop Spot Farms! On a beautiful evening in Spring 2019, EE Program staff had the pleasure of visiting with Nabeel Kasim of Crop Spot Farms, a local hydroponic produce farm that fits inside a single upcycled shipping container!  Using LED grow lights and a purposefully-engineered vertical growing system, Kasim claims he can grow as much produce as a 2-acre farm annually, even though the physical footprint of his operation is less than 400 square feet!  

Located off of Wagner Road in Ann Arbor, Crop Spot Farms is highly water efficient and can produce year round, providing fresh greens to local restaurants and consumers and avoiding the heavy transportation and packaging requirements associated with other offseason vegetable distribution.  A young and enthusiastic entrepreneur, Kasim is motivated to provide healthy food to the local community and to leverage his farm to provide educational opportunities for students. Visit the Crop Spot Farms website to learn more and see Mlive’s write up about the company here.

    *“Visible Green Home” Tour Showcases Local Home Construction Project Pursuing LEED Certification

For years, David and Alisande Read have allowed the EE program access to their beautiful prairie and wetland to facilitate outdoor learning experiences for AAPS students.  Now they have opened up the construction process of their new home to teach others about the green building strategies they have incorporated into the design!

Architect Michael Klement of Architectural Resource is hosting a series of tours to highlight features of the project during different phases of construction.  Over Spring Break, EE staff members were able to attend one of the tours to learn about the many design features the Reads have included as they strive for Net-Zero Energy and LEED Platinum Certification of the home.

During the presentation, Michael explained the affordances and challenges of the building site that his team considered in order to create an efficient and functional design of the home’s systems.  Features include high-performing roof and exterior wall assemblies, Structural Insulated Panels, geothermal heating and cooling system, WarmForm insulated slab, airlock vestibule, passive solar design, and stormwater management through the use of 3 rain gardens!  

There was a great turn out of interested local residents at the event who were excited to learn about these and other environmentally-friendly home building strategies. You can learn more about this inspiring project at 713project.com.