— To those behind Northwest Education Services’ new Joseph C. Fisher Early Childhood & Family Center, whose efforts were celebrated at an open house on Tuesday. Finishing touches were in the works this week at the facility that features space for teaching, professional development for early educators, public playgroups and more, as reported in Wednesday’s newspaper by the Record-Eagle’s Kathryn DePauw.
“This moment feels especially meaningful because it reflects something deeper than a space,” said North Ed Superintendent Tara Mager. “It reflects our shared commitment to helping every learner, regardless of how young they are, move towards a life of purpose and possibility. And we know that that pathway begins long before kindergarten.”
— To the volunteers from this week’s Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism who worked on projects at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy headquarters, as photographed by the Record-Eagle’s Jan-Michael Stump. More than 30 people from the Michigan Cares for Tourism program and Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails and the state Department of Natural Resources constructed benches and floating boardwalk pods for the Brown Bridge Natural Area, and made goldenrod seed balls for conservancy lands.
Goldenrod is a “biodiversity hero” with 22 species native to Michigan that support pollinators and other insects, which “in turn, are critical food sources for native birds and other wildlife species,” according to a post by Kerry Sprague of the University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum.
— To Suttons Bay’s Leisa Eckerle, who was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to represent tart cherry growers on the Michigan Cherry Committee for the next three years. Eckerle owns Benjamin Twiggs, and previously managed her family’s fifth-generation cherry farm.