Will made a visit to Proctor during the first week of January to speak to the students of Jedlicka Middle School and Proctor High School and to hear from Leah Moore's eighth grade students.  After his presentation students asked him questions that ranged from "What is the coolest thing you saw in the Arctic?," to "What have you done to help fight climate change?."

Happy New Year! Launching Minnesota’s Changing Climate was a highlight of 2011 and we are excited about continuing to expand this program in 2012.

Parks Climate Challenge schools are continuing to create excellent PSAs. Check out this great work from Bloomington Lutheran School:

We are still accepting proposals for Parks Climate Challenge mini grants, so feel free to continue working on your applications. Let us know if you would like to discuss ideas for your project or have any questions.

Greetings!

It is hard to believe we are almost to Winter Break!  For Ann and I this means, believe it or not, Summer Institute 2012 is in the works. Please help us in spreading the word that August 7-8 we will hold our 7th Annual Summer Institute for Climate Change Education.  We will once again be able to offer mileage and accommodations to those traveling from outside the metro area within Minnesota.  Details and registration will be available by the end of January.  In addition to sessions similar to last summer, we are planning on offering an "advanced strand" for teachers who have used MCC.  If you have suggestions for topics to address please let us know!  Finally, we hope to persuade some of you to come back to participate in a panel of experts discussing how you implemented this curriculum.  

We had another fantastic day of school visits with Will Steger on November 18 when we visited Roseville Area Middle School and MetroTech Career Academy. During each visit, students presented the work that they have been doing with the Minnesota's Changing Climate curriculum and Will spoke to large groups of students. Read more about the November 18 visits.

On November 18, Will Steger's second day of school visits started at Roseville Area Middle School where Will gave presentations on his experiences in the Arctic and the impacts of climate change to two groups of eighth graders. Since Roseville Area Middle School is a participant in the Parks Climate Challenge program, each presentation began by showing the top public service announcements that students had created about the Mississippi River. It was fun to see these informative and creative videos. Will then spoke to students and answered many of their thoughtful questions. Students were very interested in Will's experiences on expeditions as well as the changes that he had observed over the years.

Next, we went to MetroTech Career Academy where Will met with the environmental science class and environmental club as a small group and then spoke to the whole high school. In the small group meeting, students presented the action projects that they had been working on to find solutions to a variety of environmental issues as a part of the Minnesota's Changing Climate curriculum. Students and staff at MetroTech had also completed a survey assessing their carbon footprint, what they already do to engage in solutions, what are barriers to more action and what they will do differently in the future. They had gathered some excellent data, and it was exciting to see the wonderful ideas that these students had for their action plans!

Thanks again to our fantastic hosts, and we look forward to seeing more examples throughout this year of what students are creating as part of our Minnesota's Changing Climate program!