“Hands-on. Minds-on.”
-Hedi Baxter-Lauffer-
About the Sustainability Leadership Cohort Program:
The Sustainability Leadership Cohort Program is an opportunity for students in our area that is
made possible through a USDA-funded project called POSOH (the acronym for Place-based
Opportunities for Sustainable Outcomes and High Hopes). POSOH is a 5-year project that
involves a partnership among the College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development
Institute, UW-Madison, CESA 8, Michigan State University, the Great Lakes Bioenergy
Research Center and others. The POSOH project is bringing new resources and opportunities to
our community. POSOH’s mission is to prepare all learners—especially youth who have been
underserved—to pursue bioenergy- and sustainability-related studies and careers, while exploring
the contributions of indigenous and scientific ways of knowing to our understanding of
ecosystems and sustainability.
The Sustainability Leadership Cohort Program (SLC) is led by the College of Menominee
Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in collaboration with its POSOH partners. This
Program is designed to support young people in our area to build leadership skills, promote
higher education, and ultimately, to foster the next generation of community leaders.
The goal of the SLC Program is to ignite interest and broaden understanding of sustainability
through science-, technology-, engineering- and mathematics-related experiences. The Program is
committed to respecting cultural values and encouraging holistic thinking. SLC will provide
students the tools and skills to be innovative leaders and positive change agents for people and
our planet. The SLC will provide a hands-on, non-lecture style environment that allows students
to discover, question, explore, communicate, and Science/Math/Technology-related fields in an
unconventional manner that promotes critical thinking and leadership skills.
The SLC Program serves as a stepping stone for students to discover Science/Math/ Technologyrelated careers and interact with people and professionals of all ages who walk this path. SLC
participation will empower students so they may one day serve as leaders and positively influence
their classmates, schools, and communities.
discover, question, explore, communicate
 LEAD
Sustainable Development Institute’s Sustainability Leadership Cohort Outline
As part the USDA POSOH Project, the SLC Program will actively engage students with sustainability issues and multidisciplinary problem-solving that is rooted in systems
thinking, cross boundary interconnections, and tribal perspectives. SLC members will be students from area high schools, and they will participate in a wide variety of
sustainability-related learning activities and field trips. SLC members will use action-research-communication projects and experiential field trips as the vehicle for learning,
understanding, and applying academic science, technology engineering and mathematics principles in the real world—in their own community. This approach will help to make
academic ideas more relevant for students and foster in students an appreciation for giving back to their community. The SLC Program will provide a safe learning environment
and ensure that every student has an opportunity to grow culturally, intellectually, academically, emotionally, socially and physically. Participation in the SLC Program will
contribute to students’ preparations for future internships, future academics and for becoming life-long learners and community stewards. Additionally, the SLC will use native
role-modeling to help students see a wide range of possibilities that can lie ahead through hands-on interactions with other native students—some their own age and some
from other colleges and universities, plus a variety of faculty, researchers, and community members.
The following table outlines the 2015 SLC activities, and explains why these activities are being developed for students.
Activity
SLC Program Cohort
Parent-Student
Orientation @ CMN
Leaders and
Collaborators
College of Menominee
Nation Sustainable
Development Institute
Objectives
Description and Intended Outcomes
Timing
Introduce parents and students to cohort
idea
Parents and students will get a feel for the
program’s expectations, commitment, and
opportunities. They will also have a
chance to ask any questions.
March 21
(9:30-10:30)
OR
March 23
(5:00-6:00)
1 hour
Parents and students required to attend
1 session
Duration
SLC Team Building
Workshop @ CMN
CMN SDI
Get to know one another and become
grounded in the Sustainability Leadership
Cohort, become a team based in
collaborative leadership model
Overarching Themes
·
Homesystem and interconnection
·
Systems thinking
·
Our education
Students will be prepared for what is to
come throughout the cohort and
understand expectations. They will also
bond as a cohort that works together to
solve problems.
March 28
(10:00-2:00)
4 hours
Indigenous Science
Leadership Trip
to Wisconsin Indian
Education Association
Conference
(Milwaukee, WI)
UW-Madison’s POSOH
team, Wisconsin Indian
Education Association,
CMN SDI
Attend Wisconsin Indian Education
Association Conference to think critically
about education needs in Indian Country.
Build leadership, collaborative problemsolving, and team skills.
Expose students to outdoor education
learning environments.
We will begin planning for the Earth
Week Celebration.
Frame our SLC group as part of a bigger
picture change.
Begin to think critically about science
education and alternative models of
education.
Explore ideas of systems thinking and
landscape level human-environment
relationships and begin to understand in
more detail our relationship to earth as
April 10-11
2 days
basis for action-research projects.
Begin establishing a framework for
understanding that includes multiple ways
of knowing.
Develop skills as system thinkers and
change agents.
Gain a broader sense of place.
Earth Week
Celebration
@ UW-Madison and
CMN Green Bay and
Keshena campuses
CMN SDI and CMN
faculty, UW- Madison’s
Nelson Institute
Students will participate in the Nelson
Institute Earth Day Conference at UWMadison. Work as a team to coordinate
the junk art contest and sustainability
fashion show during the Earth week
event at the CMN Green Bay and
Keshena campuses.
Attending the earth day conference will
offer different perspectives of what the
meaning of sustainability is to people
elsewhere and in other stages in life.
Working on a project together at the
beginning of the program will introduce
the students to group dynamics. They will
also gain community organizing skills.
April 20-22
3 days
Family Get Together
@ CMN/SDI
CMN SDI staff
A fun get together with family and SLC
members, mentors. This will include a
cookout, fire, garden party and Frisbee
golf on the SDI learning path.
Students and family will have a chance to
mingle with each other and get to know
the SDI staff. Activities out of school and
normal meetings will help build
relationships between the SLC team.
May 22
5 hours
Forest Ecology
Workshop
@ CMN and
Menominee Forest
CMN SDI and CMN
faculty
Students will learn how to do field
research in Menominee forest and CMN’s
learning path. Participate in language
workshops relevant to Menominee plant,
animal, and place names.
Students will gain experience doing field
work and learn about what makes the
Menominee forest unique. Learning the
language piece is important in making
connections between the plant/medicine
uses and place names. Students will
better understand their place and be able
to compare and contrast it with the Belize
forest, animals, and plants.
June 8-10
2 days
International
Preparedness
Workshop
@ CMN
CMN faculty
CMN Faculty Dr. William VanLopik will
teach the students about the Menominee
Theoretical Model of Sustainability. The
students will learn the concepts within
the model and compare them to that of
the indigenous people of Belize. The
workshop will also include information on
Being prepared before traveling abroad
makes for a more fulfilling educational
experience. Being culturally aware is
important in understanding different
places in the world and the people who
live in those places especially when
visiting a country as diverse as Belize.
June 23-24
2 days
traveling abroad and prepare the
students for their trip to Belize. Students
will learn what is most important when
traveling abroad. Dr. V will brief students
on the service learning program and what
to expect.
Netaenawemakanak
Odyssey Trip
(San Ignacio, Cayo,
Belize Central
America)
CMN SDI and CMN
faculty, Institute for
Sustainable
International Studies,
UW- Madison’s POSOH
team
The students will be exposed to a new
culture and participate in a week long
service learning course. The course will
include anthropology, sustainable
development, and tropical forest ecology.
They will visit indigenous communities
who each face their own environmental
issues such as deforestation, ecotourism,
and mining.
The students are introduced to indigenous
sustainability values for the Menominee,
surrounding tribal communities and other
tribes throughout the United States early
on in the cohort. By visiting another
country they will be able to identify how
other indigenous peoples’ contact history
influences their present day integration of
sustainability values and bio-energy
approaches.
June 26-July
3
1 week
Community-based
Action Research Film
Project – Explore,
Connect, Act,
Communicate @
CMN
CMN SDI and CMN
faculty
Implement a community-based action
research project.
Gain research and practical skills through
learning by doing process.
Work through collaborative leadership
process to implement project
management and complete project task
Create a short film on a communityaction project.
Explore how to effectively communicate
multi-disciplinary concepts through
multimedia.
Being an active participant and director of
one’s own learning, doing, and
communicating are important skills for
entering higher education, future careers,
as well as being an engaged member of
the community. By designing,
implementing, and communicating their
own projects with a clear process of
planning, researching, implementing, and
communicating students will empower
themselves and see how STEM-disciplines
relate to their lives in a hands-on manner.
Implementing actual projects in one’s own
community builds strong change agent
skills.
July 8-July 30
120 hours
Attend Film Festival
@ TBD
CMN SDI
Students will submit their action research
film project to a film festival. Attendance
is dependent upon budget and
acceptance of the video.
Showing their video at a larger venue will
give students a chance to interact with
filmmakers of all genres. The video will be
more widely distributed. Students will
realize the opportunities that are available
to them in the media and technology
field.
Fall/spring
Summer Job
– 30
hrs/week
weekend
Youth Speak Event
@ Menominee
Reservation
and
Host a Film Festival
@ UW-Madison
CMN SDI and CMN
faculty, and UWMadison’s POSOH team
Students show their films along with
other feature films to communicate their
projects to the broader community.
Achieving success and sharing their work
will give students an opportunity to teach
others and answer questions about their
projects so that they appreciate all they
have learned and value themselves as
experts in a field. Positive reinforcement
for their new-found expertise can
encourage continued learning.
Fall/winter
weekend
Important Dates:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Application Due—Friday, March 13, 2015
Interview-Set up interview time when handing in application
Parent/guardian-student orientation (REQUIRED for parent/guardian and students!)—March 21 (9:30-10:30 AM) or March 23 (5:00-6:00 PM) @ CMN
SLC Team Building Workshop—March 28 (10:00-2:00 PM) @CMN
WIEA Conference- April 10-11
Earth Week Celebration- April 20-22
Family Get Together- May 22
Forest Ecology Workshop- June 8-10
International Preparedness Workshop- June 23-24
Netaenawemakanak Odyssey Trip – June 26-July 3
Community-based action research film project summer internship—July 8-July 30, Monday-Thursday
*All dates subject to change depending on funding.
Menominee Theoretical Model of Sustainability
SLC Intern Testimonials:
Mylia Olson (Menominee Indian High School Student)
“Being a part of this program and doing the research and the videos helped
me reconnect to the earth. I always had an interest, this love for our land
but didn’t fully understand the issues that people face. Once I joined this
program, I started to see things differently.”
Travis Spice (College of Menominee Nation Student)
“I wanted to learn more about sustainability and a healthy environment.
When we did the fishing segment in the video we talked about how
fishing on natural rivers is healthier than getting it from Wal-Mart or
some other place. When you shop for your food you don’t really know
where it’s coming from. Lots of places don’t have regulations on food so
it might not be very healthy for you.”
Lorenzo Warrington (Menominee Indian High School Student)
“It was a good way to connect to the environment as well as learn about
it from a scientific perspective. It’s been interesting and I feel like it has
changed me to be a better person. Maybe I can help create more
awareness for others and work together to rehabilitate the earth.”
*Testimonials cited from Menominee Nation News Article.
Relevant Maps