On a brisk early autumn day, September 28, 2022, in Spicer, MN, 120 middle and high school students gathered outdoors at Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center (PWELC) to learn about pollinators, healthy soil, community-building, and tips for successful eco-action projects during the Youth EcoSolutions (YES!) Fall Summit. YES! teams that participated include Lac qui Parle Valley,
15th Annual YES! Awards Ceremony
On May 15, Youth Eco Solutions (YES!) held its annual awards ceremony at the Target Field Baseball Stadium. In attendance were three finalist teams, as well as Program manager Joe Dunlavy, Program Coordinators Deb Groebner and Jasmine Nieto, Former Program Coordinator Taylor Templer, partners from the University of Minnesota, and additional non-finalist team members as well as their
A “treemendous” time: Forestry Workshop at Northern Lights Community School
Braving frigid temperatures, students from the Youth Eco Solutions team at Northern Lights Community School donned snowshoes to learn firsthand about their school's woodland during the YES! Forestry Workshop on March 10. The workshop was organized by YES! regional coordinator Deb Groebner; instruction was provided by Rachael Olesiak, Research Plot Coordinator at the University of Minnesota's
Southwest Teams Participate in Green Jobs Workshop
YES! students from Lac qui Parle Valley, MACCRAY, and Yellow Medicine East high schools are better prepared to explore careers that benefit the environment after participating in a two-part Green Jobs Workshop in February and March 2022. First, the teams learned about key workforce skills during a pre-workshop session led by Krista Nelson and Kelly Rickert, both Work & Learn Coordinators
YES! has a new Program Manager! Introducing Joe Dunlavy
I was born and raised just west of Prairie Woods ELC on a rural acreage. My family helped me cultivate an interest in environmental endeavors through our livestock operations and many acres of CRP (Conservation Reserve Program). I returned to the area after completing a BA in Biology from the University of Minnesota Morris and built a home with my wife and two children on land adjacent to my
YES! Student Blog Post
Every year, a new group of 8th grade students is invited to participate in the NL-S middle school YES! Team. This year, our team decided that the theme of our projects would be the community. We are the NL-S Middle School YES! Team. Earlier this year our YES! team brainstormed clever ideas on how to bring awareness to community ecological problems. One project we wanted to tackle is an
