Leadership and Transformational Learning in the Sustainability Leadership Semester

Leadership and Transformational Learning in the Sustainability Leadership Semester

“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."

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Watershed Moments: The Sustainability Leadership Semester

Watershed Moments: The Sustainability Leadership Semester

“I am always taken back to the canoe trip when we stood in the center of the river and it was really hard, then we let the water move us and it was really easy. We need to remember that when thinking about controlling the environment.” (9.21.15)

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Honoring the Headwaters: 10 Years of Sustainability Leadership Semester

Honoring the Headwaters: 10 Years of Sustainability Leadership Semester

“Water, and the experience of it, forms…the backbone of Goshen College’s Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS)…each fall,” wrote Jonathon Schramm, associate professor of sustainability and environmental education.

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Professor Pontius Named Co-Editor of Springer Nature’s Environmental Discourses in Science Education Series

Professor Pontius Named Co-Editor of Springer Nature’s Environmental Discourses in Science Education Series

For his whole life, Joel Pontius has cultivated a deep curiosity with the environment. Now, with extensive experience in teaching and writing about sustainability education, Pontius has the opportunity to shape leading-edge publications for international audiences in the fields of environmental and science education.

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Summer 2021

This summer issue of The Merry Leaflet features the agroecology students and their culminating celebration with a farm to table dinner. Learn about the projects our student researchers conducted this summer and the legacy of Mary Linton upon Merry Lea.

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Mary Linton: A Key Thread in Merry Lea History

Mary Linton: A Key Thread in Merry Lea History

If you start your hike at the Learning Center and go straight on the gravel road toward the Onion Bottom wetland, you’ll pass through the Holy Cow Swamp. This isn’t an official name of course, but the story of Mary Linton yelling “Holy cow!” as she unexpectedly plunged in its depths gets retold at Merry Lea every so often.

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Hickory Scholar Project: Cattle Grazing and Prairie Burning

Hickory Scholar Project: Cattle Grazing and Prairie Burning

Professors Jonathon Schramm, Ryan Sensenig, and John Mischler and undergraduate students are conducting research over several years that compares the impacts of different prairie management practices: burning and grazing.

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Summer Research: Salamanders

Summer Research: Salamanders

“Just because you see different types of salamanders, doesn’t necessarily mean [those populations are] diverse.” Laura is studying which locations on Merry Lea’s property have genetically diverse populations of salamanders and why.

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Summer Research: Small Mammals

Summer Research: Small Mammals

Tasha studied the population dynamics and habitat use of small mammals, specifically northern short-tailed shrews, mice and meadow voles. Because very little research has been done on northern short-tailed shrews, Tasha focused primarily on this species to better understand their preferred habitats.

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Hickory Scholar Project: Blanding’s Turtles

Hickory Scholar Project: Blanding’s Turtles

Blanding’s turtles are Indiana state endangered semi-aquatic turtles that rely on multiple habitats for foraging, laying eggs and breeding. Liam and Tyler trapped and attached radio tags to four female and two male Blanding’s turtles to better understand their habitat usage and behavior in hopes of better protecting them.

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