Joel Pontius joined the Merry Lea team in 2015 as director of PreK-12 environmental education, overseeing PreK-12 programming and the master’s students in their teaching practicum. In 2016, he became the Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS) director and associate professor in the Sustainability and Environmental Education Department.
This issue of The Merry Leaflet highlights memorable experiences for the graduate students on their journey as environmental educators through their words and reflections. Witness their transformation from first-day nerves to realizing their capability and potential in providing meaningful environmental education to different audiences.
Tom Hartzell first arrived at Merry Lea in 2011 as a master’s student in environmental education, during which he also researched sediment contamination in the Elkhart River. Upon graduating in 2012, he joined the Merry Lea team as coordinator of residential undergraduate programs and an environmental educator.
Merry Lea is partnering with BABE of Whitley County to help support the well-being of families with young children. BABE provides incentives for pregnant women & families to participate in partner programs and services that benefit the health of infants and young children.
You won't want to miss the newest issue of The Merry Leaflet: our five graduate students wrote amazing reflections for this edition! Experience the wintery world at Merry Lea and beyond as our master's students in environmental education share about teaching winter field trips, personal poetry and their transformed relationships with nature during this season.
This issue features the Sustainability Leadership Semester, as the program celebrates 10 years this fall! As part of Honoring the Headwaters: 10 Years of SLS, we reflect on its transformational learning, including alumni testimonies. Relive the festivities of Enchanted Forest and stay up to date with the Merry Lea team: including Environmental Educator Carol Good-Elliott celebrating 20 years of service!
In celebration of Honoring the Headwaters: 10 Years of SLS, we interviewed three alumni from the Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS).
Carol Good-Elliott, longtime environmental educator at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College was awarded the Howard Michaud Award from the Environmental Education Association of Indiana (EEAI) for her lasting commitment in the field of environmental education.
This reflection written by Bekah Schrag, a 2016 participant in the Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS), is one testament of many that illustrates how the SLS inspires students to bring human communities and the environment together.
“I have taken multiple leadership courses in hopes of becoming an entrepreneur. I knew most of the technical framework about being a leader, such as how to delegate responsibility, run numbers and how to be an example for others. However, I did not know what being a good leader looked like outside the business world before coming to Merry Lea."
