Summary: For the 2018-2019 school year, the Northern Lights Community School YES! Team was the most accomplished team in the Northeast Region of Minnesota. They went on to the State Championship and walked away with the Water Stewardship Award as well. The team had been able to show that their projects had the biggest positive effects on their local waterways. They were able to do a Lake Clean-Up project, install a hydration station, and they were able to educate the public on Aquatic Invasive Species.

Description of the Goals and Actions: In the 2018-2019 school year, the Youth Eco Solutions! teams had a big push to make a difference for their local water ways. The team at the Northern Lights Community Center were able to do this for their region. One of the projects they took on was to clean up Ice Lake near Grand Rapids, MN. This lake is close to where their fairgrounds are and they noticed their was a lot of trash left over from different events. The team took it upon themselves to get rid of as much trash as possible. They did not want the trash making it to the lake and then possibly harming the ecosystem around the lake. They also were able to put in a Hydration Station in their school. This helped to reduce the plastic bottle usage in their schools as they all used reusable bottles, but it also helped with using less water. These stations encourage the users to use their own bottles, so that water will not be constantly going down the drain like with older, outdated water fountains. The team was also able to Attend Tall Timber Days. At this event, they were able to demonstrate their knowledge on the Rusty Crayfish. They talked about why it was an Aquatic Invasive Species and what were some ways to stop the spread of it. The last project that was not mentioned beforehand was that the team purchased and release Rainbow Trout into their rivers. They worked with the DNR to make sure the fish were able to be released, and they helped promote biodiversity in their local waterways.

Team and Support: Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The team was also supported by their teacher, Donna Hanson-Kaasa and by Sam Horner, the NE Minnesota YES! Regional Coordinator. The team itself is made up of around 15 students who work on these projects every year.

Equity and Diversity Practices: YES! builds an inclusive learning community by welcoming all Minnesota students in grades 7-12 regardless of their ethnicity, culture, abilities, gender, or religion. We serve youth from all economic backgrounds by providing a unique hands-on education program at no- or low-cost to students.

Results: There were many results from their projects. At the end of school year last year, they had saved over 2600 water bottles from being produced. The team was unable to see how much water had been saved. The team saw that their lake was much cleaner after they worked a whole afternoon on it. They were the most talked about booth at the Tall Timber Days event, and many people were able to see their booth. It is hard to tell what results came about from the Rainbow Trout project, but they definitely made a difference in the biodiversity of the rivers in their region.

Process Story: These projects were initiated by the students. They saw the need to complete them and with the guidance from their teacher and regional coordinator, they were able to complete all of their projects. They were able to complete a few other other projects as well, but these were the ones that related to water. I believe that the biggest challenge they faced was identifying the problems. After they were made aware of the problems, they were able to take the actions needed to complete them. They also were awarded money from the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as well.

Lessons Learned: These students learned a lot through their projects with YES! this last year. They learned about how Aquatic Invasive Species affect our water ways, how to introduce fish into their ecosystem, and how to complete projects on a timely manner. They learned that with a little guidance from their teachers, that they are able to make changes to our environment that will have positive lasting results.

Benefits: There are things that are benefits to the local community. Concerning their Ice Lake Clean-Up, hopefully their community will see all the work they put into that project and they will be less likely to litter again. Hopefully they will want to make sure that their lakes and rivers will be able to stay clean. Increasing the biodiversity of their rivers will hopefully encourage anglers to come out and enjoy the rivers in fishing as well. The YES! team are leaders in their school, because they are showing the other students that with a little hard work, a lot of great projects can be done to help our environment.

Education Connections: The YES! team at the Northern Lights Community School is woven into their school curriculum. They take time out of their day to make sure these projects are being worked on and completed in a timely manner. Since we wanted them to do as many projects on water as possible, Donna was able to work that into a Water Curriculum for the students.

Community Connections: At our kick-off event, we had Emily Nelson, formerly of the Northern St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District come out and talk about Aquatic Invasive Species with all our teams. The team also worked with their local DNR offices to make sure their Rainbow Trout were ready to be released into the wild.

Contact: Sam Horner, Northeast YES! Coordinator, sam@laurentiancenter.org