AJ Tipton, a senior at West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science was recently featured in The Rapidian as part of a series of food-related articles called “The Local Beet”.

After watching a PBS documentary in class last year entitled “Harvest of Fear: Exploring the Growing Fight Over Genetically Modified Food”, Tipton’s perspective of food changed, and he began researching genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Through the research Tipton did for his senior project, he learned that GMOs are in everything from food to clothing.  Taking GMOs out of your life means changing your life.

Tipton is now incorporating changes in his life to cut out GMOs.  He shops at smaller, local stores, as opposed to large chains.  He reduced his trips to restaurants, and advocates growing your own food from organic seed.

To read more about Tipton’s senior project, the original article “The Local Beet: Student Food Activist, AJ Tipton” can be found here.

To honor the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day in the United States, West Michigan Academy has planned a weeklong celebration of events! In addition to these events, West Michigan Academy is proud to announce that on Monday, April 19, the Kent ISD will formally recognize the Academy as a Green School at its award ceremony!  We are extremely proud of all of our students, parents and teachers for this great honor!

Below you will find the list of activities and events planned for WMAES students:

Monday, April 19, 2010
-Assembly for grade school highlighting the week's events.
-The high school math class will be weighing the trash from the lunches to determine our daily waste and will be reporting the results on the daily announcements.
-Campus wide clean up will take place during the last hour of the day.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
-Grade school classes will be working on an environmental project that will benefit the campus and the ecosystems.
-High school Visual Arts class will be making tree identification plaques and will put them up later in the week in our forests.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 * NO PLASTIC DAY
-Both high school and grade school students will be watching the video of how plastic bottles are made and their impact on the Earth.
-Students will enjoy an outdoor grilled lunch.

Earth Day - Thursday, April 22, 2010  * NO PAPER DAY
-All grades will work on the our wonderful gardens including weeding, creating trellises, fence repair, fixing the chicken tractors, making new garden beds, planting seeds, planting flowers and much more!
-No uniform day sponsored by the Student Council. Each student pays $1 and the proceeds will go to an environmental organization.

Friday, April 23, 2010 * LIGHTS OUT DAY
-Tree planting all day at WMAES. 
-Voting on the high school projects to take place in the AM.

Kate Gordan was selected from more than 1,200 teachers nationwide!

Kate Gordan, a  fifth grade teacher at West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science has been selected to attend the 2010 Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J.  Ms. Gordan is one of 200 highly-qualified third- through fifth-grade teachers from around the country selected to attend the intensive one-week, all-expense paid professional development program this summer.

A panel of educators from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) selected Ms. Gordan to attend the Academy. The panel based their decision on her qualifications, dedication to inspiring students at an early age and her overall commitment to enhancing the teaching profession. 

During the Academy, scheduled for July 18 – 23, teachers will discover new ways to excite students using experiments that demonstrate various math and science concepts including force, gravity and probability. The Academy curriculum works to deepen teachers’ understanding of these principles by conducting hands-on experiments that teachers can share with their students in the classroom. 

“It’s crucial for our students to do well in math and science. That’s an obligation we take very seriously at WMAES, so we’re thrilled that Ms. Gordan has this opportunity to learn from the brightest minds in the country and then share that with our students,” said elementary principal Josh Hahn.

Through www.sendmyteacher.com,teachers from all 50 states had the opportunity to apply for this development opportunity with more than 1,200 teachers applying for the 2010 Academy.Parents and teachers also nominated their teacher to apply for the opportunity by sending an e-card or printing a teacher appreciation certificate from the site.

ExxonMobil partnered with Phil and Amy Mickelson, and developed in conjunction with the National Science Teachers Association and Math Solutions to found the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy in 2005. The Academy is designed to engage students in math and science at an early age engage to retain their interest in these subjects through college and into their careers.

“Amy and I are proud to work with our partners, ExxonMobil, the NSTA and Math Solutions to create a hands-on curriculum for teachers looking to deepen their understanding of math and science,” said PGA golfer Phil Mickelson. “Based on the overwhelming response to Send My Teacher, the Academy will offer the program again later this spring, and we encourage all teachers to apply for this incredible opportunity.”

This year, more than 600 teachers will attend one of the three Academies scheduled in New Jersey, Louisiana and Texas. To date, more than 2,000 teachers have attended the Academy, impacting more than 30,000 students from across the country with the lessons and skills they learned.

The following PK-8 students displayed outstanding Integrity during the month of February:

Julia Sandford, Brianna Mulder, Dominic Schout, AJ Morgan, Christina Guajardo, Anthony Cardosa, Tessa Stephens, Alli Lafleur, Caleb Kipp, Arianna Perez, Janay Baker, Cassedy Levett, Haley Card , Kaylee Fry, Austin Galovich, Kiana Mansfield, and Octavio Cervantes.

Congratulations to these students! March’s character education theme is Perseverance.