Current Families & Students
Visit this page for monthly updates from Heronwood Field Station lead instructor, Allie Springer.
May 2023 update from Allie:
Happy Spring!
Here in Conservation Biology class, we are gearing up to finish out the school year strong and say goodbye to our Seniors. We’re wrapping up the year with our wildlife unit, where we’ll learn to identify a variety of wild animals and track the wildlife on the Heronwood property. We had a busy winter and early spring completing our forestry and water units, spending lots of time outside on the trails, and attending a few field trips. This spring, we had our first ever Student Showcase event where parents and community members gathered to see some of the work that the students produced throughout the year. Every student accomplished great things this year, and they have a lot to be proud of.
Forestry is our largest unit, and this year, we created a video to highlight the work that went into our forestry project. As noted in the video, the project is ongoing, and we are currently carrying out some of the forest management strategies that the students chose to implement, like invasive species removal and planting climate resilient tree species.
Some highlights from this spring include:
- Visiting Nature’s Way preschool and teaching their students how to sample macroinvertebrates
- Students presented their Independent Projects that they spent the whole year working on
- Collaborating with the CTE Art and Design class to create conservation related infographics
- Students showing off their forestry projects at Kalamazoo’s Earth Day celebration

Student Work Highlights
Glass art Presentation
For her independent project, Maia created glass art depictions of various types of endangered species native to Michigan, which were displayed at Glass Arts Kalamazoo.