Au Gres-Sims Receives $2,500 Environmental Education Grant from Captain Planet Foundation

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FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

Captain Planet Foundation Contact:  Kathy Lively           
404-522-4159
grants@captainplanetfdn.org

Au Gres-Sims School District Contact:  Jeffrey Collier
989-876-7150
www.ags-schools.org

Captain Planet Foundation Awards an Environmental Education Grant to
Au Gres-Sims School District

January 22, 2018 Au Gres, MI – The Captain Planet Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding educational programs that give students hands-on, project-driven learning experiences with real environmental outcomes, is proud to announce that Au Gres-Sims School District was recently awarded an Environmental Education Grant in the amount of $2,500.  Au Gres-Sims will use these funds towards facilitating dynamic fieldwork within the Schoolyard Habitats pillar of their unique Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Curriculum Overlay.  These studies provide students immersive lessons with threatened plant greenhouse propagation and invasive species on Big Charity Island in the Saginaw Bay. 

“We are so impressed with the project brought to us by the Au Gres-Sims School District,” says Leesa Carter, Executive Director of the Foundation.  “We are honored to play a part in funding its implementation and wish Au Gres-Sims great success on this important project.  It is our hope that our combined efforts to educate, empower, involve, and invest in today’s youth will cultivate a better tomorrow for everyone.”

Au Gres-Sims Superintendent, Jeffrey Collier, stated, “We are extremely grateful to the Captain Planet Foundation for their incredible generosity to help fund our student’s STEM fieldwork, and for their greater vision and partnership to invest into project-based learning opportunities while promoting environmental stewardship.”  

Project Description
Au Gres-Sims students, working with a host of regional, state, and national partners including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Huron Pines, and the Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, are continuing their longitudinal STEM research studies.  These experientially designed learning projects focus on invasive species and greenhouse propagation of the threatened and federally protected Pitcher’s Thistle plant on Big Charity Island.  Big Charity Island, located within the school district’s boundaries, is part of the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge.       

About Name of Your School or Organization
Au Gres-Sims School District, "a public school with a private school feel," is located in Arenac County, Michigan.  The district is nestled on the sunrise side of Lake Huron and includes the Charity Islands.  There are roughly 27 miles of shoreline, which ranges from natural frontage and sugar sand beaches to residential property.  Au Gres is renowned for offering an incredible quality of life, abundant natural resources, and a rich cultural history.

Au Gres-Sims School District is proud to be known as a “Destination District” for its combined strength in academic achievement and entire preschool through twelfth grade school experiences.  Au Gres-Sims is a progressive district that is recognized statewide, as well as nationally, for consistently and proactively modeling best educational practices using data-driven research and advanced technology.  The district is engaged in many local, regional, and national partnerships with a variety of entities eager to actively immerse themselves in sustainable STEM programs, including Watersheds and Ecosystems; Charity Island Invasive Species Studies; Robotics and Engineering; Threatened Plant Greenhouse Propagation; Schoolyard Habitats; and Meteorology.

About The Captain Planet Foundation
Based on the critically-acclaimed animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, CPF was co-founded in 1991 by media mogul Ted Turner and producer Barbara Pyle.   Since then, the Captain Planet Foundation has played a critical role in helping to ensure that the next generation of business leaders and policy makers are environmentally literate citizens who leverage technology and information to manage and protect the air, land, and water upon which all life depends.

CPF is a grant-making foundation that has funded over 2,000 hands-on environmental education projects with schools and non-profits that serve children in all 50 U.S. states and in 25 countries internationally.  More than 1.4 million children have directly participated in and benefited from these educational projects.  In addition to its Small Grants Program, the Captain Planet Foundation also operates the following programs:  Project Learning Garden, Project Hero, ecoStem kits, the Leadership Center, SAGES, Planeteer Clubs, and a number of other science education initiatives that promote the intersections between technology, innovation, the environment, and personal action.  For more information:  www.captainplanetfoundation.org

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