Thanks for joining us on WYSO Weekend, the home of YSO produced news and features. Today’s program is all about education and conservation. First we'll look at three conservation efforts taking place at Antioch College. In our newest series, Culture Couch, producer Dan Gummel tells us all about Project Jericho’s Summer Arts Camp in Springfield. And Community Voices producer Ron Solada reports how College Promise is providing a free college education for academically gifted children from poverty affected families here in the Miami Valley. See more details below.
- Antioch College and Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs have secured a second land conservation easement that will forever protect 973 acres of the preserve. To get more details on the easement we spoke to Nick Boutis, Executive Director of the Glen Helen Ecology Institute.
- One of the sure signs of summer is the sound of lawn mowers cutting their way through neighborhoods across the country. That sound – too early on a Saturday or Sunday morning – can cause the gentlest of souls to gnash their teeth and perhaps curse their neighbors. Enter, a new batch of 'solar sheep' which are providing grounds maintenance - chomping and chewing the high grass surrounding several acres of large solar array panels on the Antioch College Farm. Farm Manager, Kat Christen, has been on the job about four years. To find out more about the farm and the part these solar sheep are playing in Antioch’s sustainability efforts, we take a trip outdoors.
- Beth Bridgeman is the Instructor of Co-operative Education at Antioch College. She recently took a small group of students to the Seed Savers Exchange conference in Decorah, Iowa. Seed Savers Exchange is the largest non-governmental seed bank in the United States. We spoke to Bridgeman to find out more about how the exchange works and how Antioch College plans to launch Ohio's first Seed School.
- College Promise provides a free college education for academically gifted children from poverty impacted families here in the Miami Valley. Community Voices Producer Ron Solada has their story.....
- This summer Project Jericho, a non-profit housed at Clark State in Springfield, hosted a free arts camp for local youth. They hired professional artists from around the country to teach. Young people wrote poetry which they performed in a public concert emceed by Amena Brown, a nationally-known slam poet. For Culture Couch, W-Y-S-O Community Voices producer Daniel Gummel has the story of one young man’s experience at the camp. To see photos from Project Jericho’s Summer Arts Camp, visit W-Y-S-O dot org. Culture Couch is made possible by a generous grant from the Ohio Arts Council.
- Several universities and other institutions around the country have made headlines in the past year or two by deciding to eliminate all investments in fossil fuels. Is this action a serious step toward mitigating the effects of climate change, or just a public relations ploy? University of Dayton professor Bob Brecha has more during this week’s climate commentary.
