This edition of The Merry Leaflet features Conservation Leadership School reflections, Mennonite Creation Care Network (MCCN) updates, and what's been going on at the Merry Lea Teaching Farm. You can also read about other Merry Lea updates such as our new website, summer research students, strategic planning, our team, and more. Also featured is a volunteer spotlight!
News & Updates
Fall 2022 Leaflet
The issue focuses on highlights from this past summer, including our first Indiana Junior and Teen Indiana Master Naturalist camp and the work of our Agroecology Summer Intensive students. You can also read about how we are fulfilling our founder’s vision of Merry Lea serving as a place for undergraduate research.
Winter 2023 Leaflet
This issue of The Merry Leaflet features how Merry Lea is ensuring a sustainable and resilient future for years to come! Also featured are highlights from our graduate student’s intercultural experience in the Bahamas, a behind the scenes look of our 2023-2026 strategic action planning process and academic updates.
Public Electric Vehicle Charging Station at Merry Lea
Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center now has a free and public charging station for electric vehicles! Located in our Learning Center parking lot, our ChargePoint station is free for the community to use every day of the week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Luckey’s Landing: Where the Forest, Grassland and Wetland Come Together
Written by Michael Miller, current 2022-23 master’s student - It’s official! I finally began my graduate school journey to become an environmental educator through Goshen College’s Master of Arts in Environmental Education program at Merry Lea.
Professor Joel Pontius: 7 Years of Developing Environmental Leaders at Merry Lea
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.
Spring 2022
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 Reflects on 10 Years of Service to Merry Lea
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 Now Offers BABE Coupons for Families with Young Children
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.
Winter 2022
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.
Conservation Leadership School