Troy Athens High School students

Students from three Southeast Michigan high schools recently spent a day at the Knight Center, learning about environmental journalism and touring the School of Journalism, the Spartan Newsroom and the WKAR TV studios.

Kelly House, the environmental reporter at the nonprofit Bridge Michigan news service, spoke to the students and teachers at lunch.

Skyline High School and Huron High School in Ann Arbor and Troy Athens High School received Knight Center grants for their journalism and environmental science students and teachers to develop collaborative media projects.

Huron High School students

As part of the grant program, the Knight Center also arranged for former reporters Nancy Hanus and Ron Recinto to serve as professional mentors to the teams.

In “Why Native Plants,” the Troy Athens team explored the push and rationale to use native plantings at the school district’s new construction sites. Here’s the presentation and video about the project.

The Huron team looked at how students used wildlife tracking cameras to study biodiversity and Miller Creek, which runs into the Huron River. Its presentation is here.

Skyline High School students

“Skyline’s Salamanders & Wetlands” is an account of ongoing efforts to protect an endangered salamander on the high school’s grounds. The team’s presentation is here.