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Students gather at WMU to develop Great Lakes protection policy

by Cheryl Roland

July 8, 2011 | WMU News

KALAMAZOO--Beginning Monday, July 11, 25 top high school students from four West Michigan schools will gather at Western Michigan University to spend four days exploring the state of water resources in the Great Lakes.

The Keystone 2011 Youth Policy Summit on Michigan Great Lakes Water Resources will be held at the Fetzer Center on the WMU campus from July 11-14. For the third consecutive year, students will tap the resources of WMU's Department of Geosciences and its Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education--MGRRE--as they hold mock policy debates and develop proposals for schools, government agencies, nonprofit and trade organizations, businesses and communities. The 2011 event will focus on the water resources of the Great Lakes. Previous summits have focused on energy innovation and greenhouse gas reduction.

Michigan schools represented at the Kalamazoo Regional Summit include:  Grand Rapids City High, the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center, the Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center and the Berrien County Mathematics and Science Center. A second Michigan Regional Summit will be held in Midland, Mich., Aug. 8-11.

WMU's MGRRE, which is coordinating the summit at WMU, is the premier repository for subsurface geological samples and data from across the state. Its CoreKids K-12 Earth Science Outreach Program makes MGRRE's resources available to the Michigan K-12 community.

The sponsoring organization is the Keystone Center, a national nonprofit that seeks to solve society's most challenging environmental, energy and public health problems.

For more information about the event at WMU, contact MGRRE's Susan Grammer at susan.grammer@wmich.edu or (269) 387-5486.