ISEA: Curiosity, Stewardship and Passion

Friday, July 17, 2015
By Kyle Kaminski,  Lead Writer
Source | Grand Traverse Insider

ISEA gears up for annual Great Lakes Celebration

SUTTONS BAY — Boat tours, children’s games, live music, food, a classic boat show and much more will be lining the coast of Lake Michigan’s Suttons Bay next weekend for the Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) Great Lakes Celebration. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 25, the event will be held at the Education Center in Suttons Bay and admission is free.

Organizers say all ages will be able to find something to do while celebrating what the Great Lakes has to offer. “At the event, there will be dockside tours,” said ISEA’s Lisa Sitkins. “There will be kids’ experiments, games and crafts – so there will be things for 1-8 year-olds and for 8-12 year-olds. We’ll have something for everybody.” The event will also be geared for adults with the inclusion of boat shop demonstrations, a nautical flea market, several display booths and multiple Great Lakes-related demonstrations.

Returning for 2015 will be the popular classic boat show that originally launched the celebration. “It used to be called the classic boat show, and I’m not sure how long ago that was,” Sitkins said, estimating it was about five years ago. “It was mostly just classic boats but we’ve been adding kids’ activities and it’s geared more toward a wider audience now.” Those interested in submitting a boat for the show need to fill out a registration sheet online at schoolship.org or contact Tom Kelly at tkelly@schoolship.org.

New to the celebration, the nonprofit ISEA will be hosting remote-operated vehicle demonstrations and a search-and-rescue demonstration involving a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. The demonstrations — along with multiple food vendors — will be operating around 2 p.m.

The Inland Seas Education Association opened in 1989 with a simple message: “inspire curiosity, stewardship and passion for our Great Lakes.” For more than 25 years, the nonprofit has provided lessons on aquatic science, environmental awareness and sailing to more than 100,000 students coming from schools throughout the Midwest. “We really rely on the Great Lakes for our economy,” Sitkins said. “It’s important to protect that (resource) and in the process of the celebration, we get our message out to the community on the importance of stewardship.”

Every year, as many as 5,000 students sail and learn about the Great Lakes aboard ISEA’s science-lab equipped Schoolship Inland Seas and chartered Manitou. The lessons taught during Schoolship programs are aligned with the Michigan curriculum expectations for science and social studies, and often go beyond what is traditionally taught in a classroom. Programs offered throughout the summer are geared for individuals of all ages and cover a variety of Great Lakes-related topics.

For more information about the Inland Seas Education Association, its programs and the upcoming celebration, visit schoolship.org. Kyle Kaminski can be reached at kkaminski@michigannewspapers.com.

Inland Seas seeks Volunteer Coordinator with Deckhand Duty

From NorthSky Nonprofit Network Job Listing - Click here

POSTING CLOSES FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Inland Seas Education Association (SEA) seeks a volunteer coordinator/ educator. The Volunteer Coordinator/Educator works under the leadership of the Executive Director and is responsible for managing the recruitment, training, recognition, evaluation, and scheduling of all ISEA volunteers. This position also works with the ISEA Lead Scientist and Education Committee to develop, implement, and evaluate all educational programming at ISEA. The position will serve as a deckhand aboard Inland Seas as needed, and is responsible for assisting the captain in the safe and efficient operation of the vessel.

More information.


Employment application

ISEA has new staff

From the Traverse City Record Eagle - click here

BY SARAH ELMS selms@record-eagle.com | Posted: Monday, August 11, 2014 6:00 am

TRAVERSE CITY — The Inland Seas Education Association’s new lead scientist and director of education is working to update the schooner’s educational programs and strengthen relationships with other scientists and conservation experts.

Jeanie Williams, a Cadillac native, left her adjunct instructor position at Vermont Community College to move back to her home state and join the Inland Seas, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect the Great Lakes through education.

She said the position appealed to her because it combines scientific research and teaching.

“My degree is biology, and I fell into education and have never left,” Williams said.

Williams wants to start revamping the schooner’s educational opportunities once the busy summer season is over.

“We’ve been doing basically the same program for about 25 years, and it’s time for a change,” she said.

She wants to differentiate educational opportunities for the spring and fall seasons, as well as add more programs geared toward teens and young adults.

“High school and college groups can really utilize the research aspects of what we do,” Williams said. “There are really complex stories that we can engage our high school students in that would be harder to do with the younger students.”

Her goal is to survey the folks who participate in Inland Seas

programming and hear their suggestions before making changes.

“We’re trying to complement what teachers are doing in their schools, so we’re very interested in learning from teachers what they would like to see in their programming,” she said.

Williams also hopes to collaborate more with other scientists and collect data to establish a baseline for water quality and aquatic life in Lake Michigan.

Her team will work on shoreline monitoring projects, track the invasive goby fish population, research native species trends and soon will collect data on microplastics in the Grand Traverse Bay. Microplastics are plastic pieces smaller than five millimeters that pollute the water, a topic Williams said is new for Great Lakes researchers.

“We’re trying to expand our work in that way so that we’re collecting data that can be used by the scientific community,” she said.

Williams ultimately wants to see people connect their experiences with Inland Seas and on the water to everyday life.

“Science is really fun,” she said. “It’s not about memorization. It’s about experience. It’s about creativity. It’s about discovering.”