Congratulations to the 2021 Conservation Award Winners!

2021 Outstanding
Conservation Educator of the Year

Michael Dick - Gateway Middle School (Maumee, OH)

Michael Dick received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in education from Bowling Green State University.  He has taught science for 30 years at Gateway Middle School in Maumee, spending the majority of his years teaching 7th grade. He coaches the 7th and 8th grade cross country team at Gateway, as well as the track and field team, and has been the science department chair since 2006.  On the weekends, Mike works at the Toledo Zoo as an overnight guide, and does volunteer work for Metroparks Toledo.  He was named a Jennings Scholar through the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, and received their 2020 Fund For Teachers Fellowship, which will allow him to travel to Costa Rica to learn about their biodiversity and conservation efforts and discover ways to apply these real world learnings back in the classroom.

Many of Mike’s conservation efforts stem from initiatives to help the monarch butterfly population. After reading about the plight of the butterfly, his 7th grade students tagged and released monarchs through a local partnership with the Toledo Zoo.  Following this, Mike and his students decided to take further action to help the monarch butterflies with their food source. With the help of the Maumee Garden Club, the Lucas Soil & Water Conservation District, and the teachers at Gateway Middle School, the students engaged in a problem-based learning project that culminated in collaborating with the Toledo Zoo to install a 10,000 sq. ft. urban prairie on Maumee school grounds. 

This project was the beginning of Project Prairie, which has now been responsible for constructing 7.5 acres of prairie on 19 school campuses.  As a charter member of the Project Prairie steering committee,  Mike has written standards-based lessons for 7th and 8th graders of all partnering schools to actively engage in conservation activities. A special thanks to Mitch Magdich from the Toledo Zoo for his leadership, and to Jamie Kochensparger from LSWCD for showing the Gateway students how best to harvest milkweed seeds from their pods.

2021 Outstanding Student
Teacher of the Year

Ethan Jessing - Gateway Middle School (Maumee, OH)

Ethan Jessing is a first year teacher and a new graduate from the University of Toledo, as of May 2021. His educational license focuses on Science and Social Studies students in the middle (grades 4th-9th). Though this is his first full year in his own classroom, he is no stranger to the field of education and the process of providing meaningful scientific exploration opportunities to young learners. During the educational pursuits of his bachelor’s degree, Ethan worked as a team lead for Imagination Station in downtown Toledo, where he led community events, held daily science shows, and operated building initiatives. His years there helped form his ideas about engaging the minds of an entire community and cultivating a safe space for students to explore personal interests in the field.

Ethan was placed in Maumee City Schools for 2 years of field placement as required by the state of Ohio’s Department of Education. He is extremely thankful for the many educators who helped him achieve his goals and refine his skills as a professional, especially Stacey Snyder, Mandie Bentz, and the accomplished Mike Dick. During his time there, he executed lessons involving live stream tables, leaf chromatography, prairie observation, plant growth monitoring using indicators, and other immersive life-science experiences. He placed special emphasis on connecting students to the local science community and used Lucas SWD to run a supplementary “Stream Survivors” event, virtually, where students had the chance to sift through a material-based stream and observe populations of micro and macroinvertebrates to make a determinations of stream health.

During the summer between graduation and the start of his first year, Ethan also worked with Maumee’s STEAM and Olympic Summer Camp programs. During this time, he taught 3rd and 4th grade students and completed lessons on plant pigmentation, worm science, and even partnered with Toledo Grows, a downtown urban farm center, to provide meaningful enrichment opportunities for local students. In his current position with Perrysburg Schools, Mr. Jessing teaches STEM and Digital Media to students in 5th and 6th Grade. This includes exciting units on coding, circuitry, robotics, 3D printing, laser-cutting, stop motion animation, and much more. He is currently looking forward to finding new ways to utilize the school’s prairie system, bioswale, and new tree-growth project in his curriculum. He is also beginning a new experience, called “The Nature of STEM”, where students will focus on the topics of solar power, botany, environmental protection, and irrigation systems.

2021 Cooperator of the Year

Metroparks Toledo

Metroparks Toledo is being recognized as our 2021 Cooperator of the Year. They partnered with Lucas SWCD and Toledo Spirits on a unique project in the summer of 2021 to plant and harvest heritage red corn for whiskey production. The seeds were planted on 2.5 acres in May at Blue Creek Conservation Area (BCCA) in Whitehouse Ohio.  The corn was dried by the Blue Creek Seed Production Team and will be ground at the Grand Rapids Mill before the corn goes into whiskey distillery. 

Recently at BCCA, Metroparks installed 4,000 feet of two-stage ditch on Mosquito Creek. Also on Mosquito Creek, Metroparks rehabilitated the receiving wetlands before exiting into Blue Creek. This project has been a partnership with the University of Toledo.  For decades, Metroparks Toledo has permitted Lucas SWCD to run a demonstration farm at Blue Creek for best management practices including conservation tillage, cover crops, diverse crop rotation, and nutrient management.