“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/ Technology-related 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  Leaders and Collaborators 

Objectives Description and Intended Outcomes Timing Duration

SLC Program Cohort Parent‐Student Orientation @ CMN  

College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute 

Introduce parents and students to cohort idea  Parents and students required to attend 1 session 

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

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 problem‐solving, 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 biggerpicture 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 UW‐Madison. 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 community‐action 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 Summer Job – 30 hrs/week  

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 weekend

Youth Speak Event @ Menominee Reservation and Host a Film Festival  @ UW‐Madison 

CMN SDI and CMN faculty, and UW‐Madison’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 Application Due—Friday, March 13, 2015 o Interview‐Set up interview time when handing in application o 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 o SLC Team Building Workshop—March 28 (10:00‐2:00 PM) @CMN o WIEA Conference‐ April 10‐11 o Earth Week Celebration‐ April 20‐22 o Family Get Together‐ May 22 o Forest Ecology Workshop‐ June 8‐10 o International Preparedness Workshop‐ June 23‐24 o Netaenawemakanak Odyssey Trip – June 26‐July 3 o 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