In celebration of Honoring the Headwaters: 10 Years of SLS, we had a conversation with 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.

As students take courses at Merry Lea, work on applied projects and go on weekly field trips to meet local stakeholders, thematic connections to water and the watershed are woven throughout to help frame the SLS program. So, of all the ways to frame sustainability, why is water the backbone of the SLS program?

Read students’ perspectives on how they are experiencing leadership development and new understandings of sustainability in the Sustainability Leadership Semester.

“And just as water crosses human boundaries freely, students quickly realize that sustainability challenges require thinking across disciplines and other barriers that often prevent people from working together.” Professor Jonathon Schramm wrote about how the Sustainability Leadership Semester is thematically framed, with reflective insights from a 2015 SLS participant.

Since the SLS began in 2012, this immersive, residential semester uses water as a tool and gateway to broader discussions about how students can influence the holistic health of communities. This fall, we celebrate ten years of transformational learning and leadership by Honoring the Headwaters: 10 Years of SLS.

Joel Pontius, associate professor of sustainability and environmental education at Goshen College’s Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, received an editorship at Springer Nature. He has the opportunity to shape leading-edge publications for international audiences in the fields of environmental and science education.

Mary Linton, a former Goshen College biology professor from 1989-2002, established a bridge between Goshen College and Merry Lea that still exists today. Linton was the first Lindsey Fellow as it appears today and was a conduit for immersing undergraduate students in Merry Lea’s habitats to appreciate the intrinsic value of nature. We pay tribute to Mary Linton’s impacts upon Merry Lea and her legacy.

This research assess the potential for sustainably grazing domestic livestock on native prairie plants and the effects of burning on the ecosystem. Three students also conducted individual projects in relation to this research including arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi, insects and carbon sequestration.

This pilot study focuses on four species of salamanders: Jefferson/blue-spotted complex (hybrids of the two species), spotted, small-mouthed and Eastern red-backed salamanders. The goal is to assess population dynamics and genetic diversity of these species at specific sites.