Staff Stories

Science Teaching Fellow, Emma, takes inspiration from the hardships of Rosalind Franklin and sees her own grandmother in a new light.

Teaching Fellow, Martha Torstenson was awarded a Fulbright in Norway researching seasonal adaptations and how they relate to resilience to climate change.

Students in math class learned how to use mathematical modeling to explore how pollution might flow through a chain of lakes.

The Birkebeiner is a historic and festive ski race for snow enthusiasts. This is my story of Conserve School at The Birkie this year.

In Science, students were asked to observe five different trees and note their major characteristics while learning about Wisconsin's last glacial event.

CS18 Students study the National Wilderness Preservation System in English and History class through research, imagination, and artwork.

Earth Art starts the semester with a tea party that takes students on an imaginary journey looking at crafts from different places around the world.

Every January, Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education hosts Winter Workshop for Wisconsin's Educators.

Move-In Weekend is an exciting time for staff and students; a whirlwind of new beginnings, activities and campus exploration. 

Staff, faculty, and campus services have been preparing in a vast variety of ways for the arrival of the CS18 student body.

The question of "how to be human," has been an underlying theme throughout the semester in AP Environmental Science class.

Outdoor Skills class learns Wilderness First Aid and explores possible scenarios with hands on learning in their outdoor classroom.

At Conserve School students form a connection with nature through their "Phenology Spot" and reflecting on their "Sense of Place."

Students in Spanish class learned how to make empanadas together and then engaged in the tradition of "sobremesa."

Our English class, Wilderness Voices, examines perspectives in literature through "Windows and Mirrors" while spending an afternoon outside.

The Taking Action Project (TAP) is a cornerstone of the Stewardship in Action Class at Conserve School.

The art room has been a busy place! A recent guest teacher and artisan, Charles Nickles, taught students how to make rings from wood.

Stewardship in Action recently did a unit on Art as Activism where they learned several print making techniques and much more.

Students from CS17 built and practiced their ice skating skills at the Snowflake Ice Rink in Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin.

The observation of nature, phenology, is both an art and a science. Students each have their own phenology spot to observe and record their surroundings.

A History class field trip to the Norwich Mine helps students understand the mining history of the Upper Peninsula.

Math students recently studied Fibonacci numbers using monominos, then ventured into recursion and The Golden Ratio.

La mesa de español is a popular lunchtime activity for students who want to improve or maintain their foreign language skills.

The history of Lumberjacking in this region of the country gets a lesson in log splitting in Michael Salat's history class.

In Earth Art, students create characters, Environmental Heroes, from leaves and other found materials to share with the Conserve School Community.

Science Teacher, Leanna Jackan hosted a late night candlelight bog hike where students explored both folktales and scientific explanations of bogs.

Director of Student Support, Phil DeLong, writes about the intentional support measures that Conserve School provides to support its students.

In Wilderness Voices, Conserve School's English class, students reenacted one of the strangest tales in Alaskan literature.

Yesterday, with excitement, students embarked on their Solo trips, a mainstay of the Conserve School experience.

A group of students led by Teaching Fellows spent a day volunteering with the Friends of the Porcupine Mountains clearing trails for the coming ski season.

In Stewardship in Action students learned about ways to turn invasive species into food, fuel, fiber, and building material.

Students stay busy building skills and proficiency in academics, art and the outdoors. This past weekend they got to share these experiences with their families.

Families with students in Earth Art, participate in an Earth Art printing project in the art room during Family Weekend.

Students explored the world of fungi both artistically and scientifically. Learning about and hunting mushrooms in the forest and then painting them in the art room.

The Five Lake Loop is a favorite lesson for both students and teachers alike! It is a combined History and English lesson that traverses the Sylvania.

Important lessons in Outdoor Skills prior to the Five Lake Loop and Exploration Week are portaging and canoe t-rescues.

Last week's beautiful weather lent itself wonderfully to the outdoor weaving, Earth Art, project in the commons.

This week in science class, CS17 made the first step towards building a long term monitoring plan of white tail deer population on campus.

Herbivores, omnivores and carnivores, predators and prey, this is "Life and Death in the Forest." Read about this outdoor science lesson.

Math students got out of the classroom last week and went outside and into the woods to use fractals for measuring ferns.

English Teacher, Jeff Rennicke, takes time to tackle the relationship we all have with fear in the wilderness in a lesson called, "The Trail of Eyes."

Conserve School has adopted a segment of the NCT in The Trapp Hills region of Upper Michigan. Students volunteer to help maintain the trail.

In Stewardship class students harvested wild edibles, made delicious recipes, and came up with their own guidelines for harvesting with respect and for sustainability.

Our new English Teaching Fellow, Noah, from Detroit has shared a journal entry from his first camping trip in the Sylvania Wilderness during a staff training expedition.

Michael and Jeff, History and English teachers respectively combined lessons both in the classroom and on the Lowenwood Estate to rewrite "The Wilderness Act."

Our Spanish language teacher, Kathleen, taught a lesson in mindfulness entirely in Spanish to encourage both listening and thinking in Spanish. 

Art teachers, Robert and Nancy kicked off the semester with a tea ceremony introducing students to crafts and natural materials used in art around the world.

The summer residency for UW-Steven Point's new Doctorate of Education in Education Sustainability took place at Conserve School. Doctoral students from California, Rhode Island, Maryland, Beijing and Wisconsin met to present what they learned in the first year of their program.

From June 10th to the 14th teachers from semester schools around the country converged at Conserve School for the third annual Semester Schools Teachers' Conference.