The Cody Youth Ambassadors

92 Pages·2016·7.12 MB·English

PLACE-BASED STEWARDSHIP EDUCATION CASE STUDIES
The Cody Youth Ambassadors:
Voices for Change and Hope in the
Cody Rouge Community
Detroit, Michigan
An urban high school
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About the case study
This case study of place-based professional development for The Cody Youth Ambassadors: Voices
stewardship education (PBSE) at educators, help schools connect for Change and Hope in the Cody
the Detroit Institute of Technology and partner with community-based Rouge Community
(DIT) at Cody High School is one of organizations, and provide funding
11 case studies developed by staff and other PBSE supports with an June 2016
of the Great Lakes Stewardship environmental stewardship
Initiative (GLSI), staff of the GLSI’s emphasis. The Detroit Institute of Authors:
nine regional hubs, and the Technology has a longstanding Rebecca Nielsen
educators whose work is featured relationship with its hub, the Chad Segrist
in the study. Southeast Michigan Stewardship Ethan Lowenstein
Coalition, or SEMIS. Lisa Marckini-Polk
This case study focuses on a PBSE
effort that began late in the
Photographs:
2014–15 school year and
Leisa Thompson
continued through the 2015–16
school year. At most of the sites
Supported by:
featured in these studies,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
including DIT, the PBSE approach
(U.S. EPA) grant #00E01327
has been developed over the
The Great Lakes Fishery Trust
course of several years.
Each school featured in a case
study works with the GLSI through
a regional hub. Hubs provide
Cover: DIT students
embrace their opportunity
to explore and connect with
nature at Rouge Park.
Photo: Leisa Thompson
Contents
Quick Summary Pages 5–6 A one-page overview of the place-based education effort at
urban Detroit Institute of Technology
Community Context Pages 7–13 A brief description of the community and its environmental
characteristics
Lessons and Activities Pages 14–40 An exploration of class and field activities that students
engaged in and the teaching tools used
Team and Planning Pages 41–47 A description of the teachers and partners involved in the
work, and how they approached planning and collaboration
Impacts of the Project Pages 48–68 A discussion of the impacts the project had on the
environment, the community, the school, and the students
Support from the Hub Pages 69–80 A description of the support provided by the Southeast
Michigan Stewardship Coalition, a hub of the Great Lakes
Stewardship Initiative
Looking Forward Pages 81–84 A review of future plans for place-based stewardship
education at the Detroit Institute of Technology
Contact information for the featured team, supplemental
For More Information Pages 85–89
information on the GLSI, and links to other products and
reports
References Pages 90-91
Conventions in this document
As you read this study, you will see special icons in the text.
This icon marks a teaching tool, resource,
or product that you can access and
download from the case study.
This icon marks a connection between the
work being described and the GLSI’s
Guiding Principles for Place-based
Stewardship Education, developed by GLSI
central and hub staff to describe the GLSI’s
vision for exemplary place-based
stewardship education. Certain aspects of
each case study illustrate how one or more
of the principles can be enacted in
classrooms and communities.
Quick Summary
This project provided a
dedicated group of
students—the Cody Youth
Ambassadors—with a chance
to expand their message of
stewardship and civic action
Stevie Chilcote of DYES-EcoWorks points out macroinvertebrates collected in pond samples from
Rouge Park. Photo: Leisa Thompson
The students adopted Detroit’s
Rouge Park and investigated issues The Detroit Institute of Technology (DIT) is school year to embed nearby Rouge Park
an urban high school on the far west side of into the curriculum of ninth-grade English
of environmental and community
Detroit, Michigan. One of DIT’s after-school language arts, social studies, and science
health with the entire ninth grade
programs is the Youth Ambassadors—a classes.
at DIT. program for student leaders who set an
example for the rest of the student body, Students learned about Rouge River water
provide leadership, and contribute their quality challenges, as well as littering and
voices to discussions about their school’s pollution problems in the park, and
improvement. discovered the history of the land and water
in the Cody Rouge community. The project
Working with their faculty sponsor, Mr. Chad marked an important advance for
Segrist, Youth Ambassadors have become stewardship at DIT, because it was the first
involved in their community in varied ways. time that stewardship learning was
For this project, after exploratory and integrated into core subject matters during
planning efforts in the 2014–15 school the regular school day, and involved an
year, Ambassadors worked with teachers entire grade level.
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and partners throughout the 2015–16
QUICK SUMMARY
Community Context
Context is essential in place-based stewardship education
There is perhaps no more distinctive characteristic of PBSE PBSE relies on place—including lands and waters, people and
than its treatment of place as the context for learning. organizations, history, and culture—as a starting point for
teaching and learning. Reading about rainforests or deserts
Our sense of place does not exist in only one geography, and
may be interesting, but environmental learning grounded in
it changes as we age. When we are very young, we may
students’ home communities builds on a foundation of
experience our strongest sense of place in our homes,
community attachment and place-based knowledge.
neighborhoods, and favorite places for play. As we grow, we
begin to understand that we are members of other For students at the Detroit Institute of Technology at Cody
communities, too—a school community, a city or town, a High School, that foundation includes their school and the
watershed, a state, or a bioregion such as the Great Lakes. broader Cody-Rouge neighborhood in which it is situated.
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COMMUNITY CONTEXT
The Detroit Institute of Technology at Cody High School is part of the
Cody-Rouge Community on Detroit’s west side
The Cody-Rouge Community was
developed between 1920 and 1950 to
house workers in the expanding
manufacturing industry (Codyrouge.org
2014). As of 2010, the community was
home to more than 36,000 residents, of
whom more than 12,000 were under 18
(Data Driven Detroit, n.d.).
Like other neighborhoods in Detroit, the
Cody-Rouge community is struggling with
limited economic opportunity, high
poverty and crime rates, and aging
housing stock. However, the community
is also a place with traction for
reinvestment and renewal. Investments
like the Skillman Foundation’s Good
Neighborhoods Initiative (see image) are
working to reverse negative trends by
strengthening education, youth
programs, and community institutions
like the Cody Rouge Community Action
Alliance.
LINK: SKILLMAN GOOD
NEIGHBORHOODS INITIATIVE
The Cody Rouge neighborhood in west Detroit where DIT is located is shown in red. The neighborhood
LINK: CODY-ROUGE STATS FROM DATA
is one of six sites selected by the Skillman Foundation for its Good Neighborhoodsinitiative, a 10-year,
DRIVEN DETROIT $100-million dollar effort to stabilize six Detroit neighborhoods that are home to a significant number
of children (The Skillman Foundation).
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COMMUNITY CONTEXT
Cody High School and the surrounding area were the focus of a massive,
volunteer-driven blight-fighting effort in 2014
Life Remodeled, a Detroit nonprofit,
hosts one weeklong effort each year
targeting a specific Detroit
neighborhood.
Local filmmaker Walter V. Marshall
chronicled the effort in his documentary,
Cody High: A Life Remodeled Project.The
movie trailer, available on YouTube,
provides a view of the school, its
neighborhood, and the impact of
investments from the Skillman Foundation
and Life Remodeled.
LINK: CODY HIGH: A LIFE
REMODELED PROJECT TRAILER
An aerial view of Cody High School as seen in the Cody High: A Life Remodeled
Project Trailer.
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COMMUNITY CONTEXT