Educators will discuss life aboard a replica 19th-century schooner for a shipboard science workshop
Wisconsin Sea Grant is launching a new series of free, public talks called “The Lake Talks.” The talks will take place in communities on or near Lake Michigan and touch upon issues of importance to the Great Lakes.
The first event will be held at the Neville Public Museum (210 Museum Place) in Green Bay on Wednesday, March 4, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The topic is “Setting Sail for Great Lakes Learning.”
Admission to the Neville Museum is free for Brown County residents after 5 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, so area residents will be able to visit the museum and attend the talk for free.
“Setting Sail for Great Lakes Learning” will be a panel with time for audience questions. The speakers will be three educators who set sail from St. Ignace, Mich., in August 2019 aboard a replica 19th-century schooner, the Denis Sullivan.
Over the course of six days, they sailed to Duluth, Minn., along with 13 other educators. Their main purpose was a shipboard science workshop focusing on Great Lakes ecology, water quality, and awareness of tribal approaches to research and natural resource management.
While engaging in a busy schedule of science activities, the educators were also expected to pull their weight as crew members sailing the three-masted schooner, from swabbing the deck to keeping watch at night.
Attendees will hear from panelists about the challenges and high points of this unique voyage and how it enhanced their classroom instruction once they got home. Panelists are: Kelly Koller, Howard-Suamico School District; Dave Landers, Pulaski Community Middle School; and Christina Dzwonkowski, conservation warden with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
All are welcome at this event. It will be of special interest to those with an interest in the Great Lakes, sailing, science (including citizen science efforts) and Ojibwe culture.
Future installments of the Lake Talks will take place in Green Bay on May 28 at the STEM Innovation Center on the UW-Green Bay campus, and on May 30 in Kenosha at Public Craft Brewing Co. Those events are also free and open to the public; more details will be released soon on the Lake Talks page.
