Project Description: Pinewood Middle School’s seventh-grade class enhanced an existing
rain garden with help from Plaster Creek Stewards by weeding, adding
mulch, and adding more plants. The purpose of the rain garden is to
filter runoff from a nearby parking lot.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship: Students now understand the role of native plants in filtering
out pollutants.
Partners: GVMC/LGROW, Calvin College - Plaster Creek Stewards
Project Description: Pinewood Middle students spent a day outside at Palmer Park in
the Buck Creek watershed. Teachers and community partners set up
stations to accommodate 150 students. The stations included water
quality testing for nonpoint source pollution, macro sampling and
identification to evaluate water quality at multiple sites, litter
cleanup to prevent debris and pollution from entering Buck Creek, art
and reflection activities on addressing NPS pollution and erosion in
the park, invasive species removal, and a nature walk.
Students visually compared the stretch of Buck Creek where it flows
through the golf course (where the turf grass is mowed up to the edge
of the creek and there is erosion) with a tributary to the creek that
flows through a wooded area of the park. They also compared the water
quality of these areas. They explored and reflected on what is causing
the differences, the related impacts on aquatic life, and what can be
done to improve the golf course portion of the creek.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship: After this project of data collecting, cleaning, and reflecting;
I hope students think twice about their local waters. With the efforts
of trying to plant the seed of stewardship, I students realize that
they can play a major role with their environment and that what they
do (positively/negatively) matters.
Partners: WMEAC, Kentwood Parks Department, Kent County Parks Department
Teachers: 5
Students: 140
Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality
Project Description: Pinewood Middle repeated their successful day of service learning
and stewardship at Palmer Park in Kentwood. Students performed water
testing at different points along the creek, removed invasive species,
and learned about the flow of water through the park.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship: This relationship with a local park will give students a sense of stewardship.
Partners: Michigan State University Extension, Kent County Parks
Teachers: 4
Students: 150
Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality
Project Description: Pinewood Middle continued their tradition of service learning and
stewardship at Palmer Park in Kentwood. Students performed water
testing at different points along the creek, removed invasive species,
and removed sticks from an open area, allowing maintenance staff to
mow and reduce the spread of garlic mustard and oriental bittersweet.
After the day, students reflected on their field packet and created a
CER (claim, evidence, reasoning) poster to publicly display their findings.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship: A multi-year study of watershed health will help students
understand the long-term effects of their work.
Partners: Kent County Parks, Kent Conservation District
