The registration deadline for the 10th biennial Lake Superior Youth Symposium is fast approaching. The symposium, a gathering of students and teachers held this year at Michigan Tech University, offers presentations and hands-on field trips to teens with an interest in the Great Lakes. Registration for the May 16-19 event closes on Tuesday, April 30.
“The Lake Superior Youth Symposium will be an outstanding learning opportunity for grades 7-12 students and their teachers from throughout the Lake Superior watershed,” says Michigan Tech’s Joan Chadde, the symposium coordinator. “Last held at Michigan Tech in 2001, we are pleased to once again host this amazing event with the goal to inspire our next generation of Great Lakes citizens, stewards, and scientists.”
While building their schedules, symposium participants have “more than 25 different field trips and 25 different presentations to choose from, by scientists, historians, artists, writers, college students, National Park and U.S. Forest Service specialists, conservation organizations, and others,” says Joan. In between talks, the students can participate in social activities like a Quiz Bowl and movie night.
Topics range from sustainable agriculture to shipping. Hands-on field trips include, among many others, recreational opportunities like kayaking and a high ropes course, a chance to be a forester for a day and learning to operate a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV). For a full list of offerings, visit LakeSuperiorYouth.org.
It’s “a chance to explore their home, the Great Lakes and their world with students from three states and two countries,” says Joan.
The $140 registration fee pays for meals, all symposium activities and three nights of lodging at Michigan Tech. Each student group must be accompanied by a chaperone, one for every 10 kids.
The first Youth Symposium was hosted by Northland College’s Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute in 1995.
Lake Superior Youth Symposium, May 16-19 at Michigan Tech, LakeSuperiorYouth.org