CASE STUDIES
Thriving Communities and a Healthy Environment
In 2014, the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative received a two-year grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support in select Michigan schools a collection of place-based education projects that focused on stewardship. Participating teachers and staff from our hubs worked with the GLSI’s central staff to create a media-rich case study about each project.

Utilizing Partnerships and Green Infrastructure to Restore Kids Creek at Greenspire Middle School in Traverse City, Michigan

Schoolwide Stewardship Education at Whitehall Middle School in Whitehall, Michigan (a suburban middle school)
We also developed a set of guiding principles for exemplary place-based stewardship education and an associated self-assessment rubric.
In addition, we wrote two white papers.
- Benefits of Place-based Stewardship Education (PDF)
- Implementing Place-based Stewardship Education Across the Landscape (PDF) Understanding how place-based stewardship education varies across different grade levels (elementary, middle, high school) and community settings (rural, suburban, small town, urban).