Education

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2023 Wege Prize winners announced: First-place U.S. team awarded $30,000 for alternative, sustainable leather material from banana plants. Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, June 5, 2023 —Three stand-out university student teams from around the world have taken winning spots in 2023 Wege Prize for their ground-breaking solutions to further a circular … More COLLEGIATE WINNERS ACROSS THE GLOBE HONORED FOR REAL-WORLD SOLUTIONS TO WICKED PROBLEMS, BENEFITTING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY »

DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC IMPACT AND DIVERSITY AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SHALANDA H. BAKER TO PRESENT ABOUT ENERGY EQUITY AND JUSTICE The Nation’s first-ever Deputy Director for Energy Justice will give a virtual presentation on Thursday, April 20, 2023 Grand Rapids, Michigan – March 31, 2023 … More Wege Speaker Series 2023 »

FIVE FINALIST TEAMS FROM FOUR CONTINENTS CHOSEN FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT COMPETITION — ENTRIES OFFER NEW SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS FOR 2022 Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) announces finalists for Wege Prize 2022, global competition for the circular economy solutions Student teams from all over the world … More Wege Prize 2022 »

KENDALL COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN OF FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY (KCAD) ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF WEGE PRIZE 2021, AND PLANS FOR GROWTH, BIGGER PRIZE PURSE FOLLOWING AWARD OF 5-YEAR GRANT EXTENSION. A TEAM OF STUDENTS FROM GHANA AND COSTA RICA WINS FIRST PRIZE AND $15,000 USD WITH TRANSFORMATIVE CONCEPT TURNING WOOD … More Wege Prize 2021 Winners »

Global Student Design Competition  Ignites Game-Changing Sustainable Solutions  for the Economy of the Future, Provides Powerful  and Accessible Platform for Systemic Change Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) Announces Winners of Wege Prize 2020 Design Competition; 2021 competition launched Team of students studying in Uganda … More Wege Prize 2020 Design Competition Winners »

Written content by Amanda St. Pierre • Videographer/photographer by Bryan Esler. The Wege Foundation was pleased to support the construction of the new Kids’ Food Basket headquarters and its sustainable urban farm program. Kids’ Food Basket was founded in 2002. Each weekday throughout the school year and summer, the organization … More Kids’ Food Basket: Growing Direct Food Access and Urban Agriculture in Grand Rapids »

In 2009 Calvin College faculty members Gail Heffner and Dave Warners launched Plaster Creek Stewards after learning that Plaster Creek (named for the plaster mill set up in 1840 to use the creek’s gypsum) is the most contaminated creek in West Michigan. Plaster Creek Stewards is a collaboration of Calvin … More Green Team Teens Dig In to Heal Their Watersheds »

West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology, an afterschool program for urban high school stdents, opened in 2005 downtown after three Steelcase leaders flew to Pittsburgh to learn about a similar non-profit there. Spearheaded by Jim Welch, the trip convinced Jim Hackett and Peter M. Wege that what Bill Strickland … More WMCAT Rhymes with ‘WINcat’—For Good Reasons »

In 2011 Grand Rapids Community faced a serious problem. While 15% of all students graduated after two years, only 5% of African- American males did. Determined to do something about this inequity, GRCC Counselor Dr. Andre Fields and administrator Eric Williams started a program called Alpha Beta Omega as part … More GRCC Steps In To Right an Academic Unfairness »

Every year an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 children in Kent County are sexually abused. Only 1 in 15 of those cases is ever disclosed. The Children’s Assessment Center was created in 1993 as a safe, caring, place where sexually abused children come—800 of them last year—for investigation, therapy, and healing … More The Children’s Assessment Center Beams Light on a Dark, Destructive Secret »

At Wyoming’s San Juan Diego Academy every morning begins the same for the mostly Latino students. The Catholic school’s Principal Dr. Manuel Brenes gathers the 210 K-8 th grade students in the cafeteria for a happy greeting, a short prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of … More Si Se Puede »

*Pictured above from the left, Laura Wege, Blandford Nature Center President Jason Meyer, Blandford Development Director Corey Turner, Wege Foundation staff member Katy Furtado, Patrick Goodwillie, Diana Wege, Wege Foundation staff member Jody Price at the Nature Center’s new visitors center named for Blandford’s founder Mary Jane Dockeray.   In … More Wege Family Tours Blandford Nature Center »

Now in its fourth year, Wege Prize is a global transdisciplinary design competition that gives teams of five college/university students the chance to work collaboratively, use design thinking principles,and contend for $30,000 in total cash prizes, all while helping to show the world what the future of problem solving looks … More GLOBAL STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION AWARDING $30K FOR INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS »

$444,000 grant awarded to Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University’s Wege Center for Sustainable Design to extend Wege Prize competition for four years 2016 competition concludes May 14 – open to the public Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University’s (KCAD’s) Wege Center for … More Wege Foundation Grant Propels West Michigan-Based Student Design Competition Toward Broader Global Impact »

The Case for Justice at the Ends of the Pipeline Crystal Lameman Intergovernmental Affairs Spokeswoman for the indigenous Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Alberta, Canada Thursday, April 21, 2016 / 4 – 5 pm Aquinas College Performing Arts Center Followed by a reception Throughout the Great Lakes region, oil flows via pipelines and … More THE REAL COSTS OF OIL »

The Grand Rapids Art Museum is holding its 6th annual children’s art contest sponsored by The Wege Foundation and inspired by the late environmental artist Mark Heckman. Partnering with his writer friend Mark Newman, Heckman created colorful drawings to illustrate their book for children titled Sooper Yooper. Peter M. Wege, … More CALLING ALL CHILDREN ARTISTS »

Six years ago 14 students entered the sixth grade at Grand Rapids Public School’s City High Middle to attend the brand new Center for Economicology, CFE. This innovative environmental school was started by the late Peter Wege with a curriculum based on his philosophy of balancing the needs of the economy with those of … More ECONOMICOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL NAMED BEST IN STATE »

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact: Elena Tislerics Coordinator, Wege Prize Chief Communications Officer, Kendall College of Art and Design elena@wegeprize.org  $30,000 awarded in wicked problem solving competition Winners of Wege Prize 2015 announced; 2016 international competition launched 1st place team Western Sustainers earns $15,000 for designing agricultural system that … More Wege Prize 2015 – Results »

by Cheryl Roland Click here to read article  on WMU’s website March 30, 2015 | WMU News KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A team of five Western Michigan University students has won the 2015 Wege Prize, besting teams from around the nation in the eyes of an international panel of judges whose task was … More WMU student team wins national Wege sustainability prize »

Louie Schwartzberg, an internationally recognized time-lapse photographer of nature, doesn’t like the fact that the average age of visitors to national parks is 57. No wonder, since Schwartzberg’s mission is nothing less than “the future of the planet.” And if it’s to be protected, he needs young people to do it. Louie’s plan of … More LOVE THE PLANET WITH A FREE PHONE APP »

Architect and founder of Architecture 2030 to talk about developing architecture districts that serve as a business model for urban sustainability The Wege Foundation will host the 19th Wege Speaker Series on Thursday,  April 23 at 4pm at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center. It is the first speaker series event since the … More ARCHITECT EDWARD MAZRIA TO BE KEY SPEAKER FOR 19TH ANNUAL WEGE SPEAKER SERIES ON THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015 »

The personal friendship between Peter Wege and Fred Meijer resulted in many good works for West Michigan, including Meijer Gardens as Peter was one of the earliest benefactors. The picture here shows the two friends standing in a field that is now the home of Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. One of Peter’s and … More Wege Talk at Meijer Gardens Will Entertain and Educate »

By Monica Scott | mscott2@mlive.com Follow on Twitter on December 12, 2014 at 1:17 PM, updated December 12, 2014 at 4:21 PM GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Wege Foundation has awarded Grand Rapids Public Schools’ City High Middle School and the Center for Economicologya $100,000 grant to support their International … More Grand Rapids receives $100,000 grant from The Wege Foundation for two schools »

Gift to establish the nation’s first collegiate economicology program as envisioned by Peter Wege Aquinas College and the Aquinas College Foundation today announced a $2.5 million gift from the Wege Foundation to establish the first-ever economicology program at the collegiate level in the nation; which the late Peter Wege envisioned … More THE AQUINAS COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $2.5 MILLION GIFT FROM WEGE FOUNDATION  »

In 2009 Blandford Nature Center had to reinvent itself from a tax-payer funded organization into an independent non-profit with Annoesjka Steinman as the first president. Annoesjka proved up to the new challenge by successfully carrying on the Center’s long-time mission as an educational wildlife mecca, but on a whole new … More Blandford’s New CEO: a Story of Friendship and Mentoring »

America’s Public schools are the entry point for success, and teachers lead the way. But they can’t do it alone. Students are with them only seven hours a day during the week. Parents take over the teaching the rest of the time. And every educational study ever conducted on how … More LITERACY CENTER NEEDS YOU »

         What begins as a fun day of golf at Blythefield Country Club ends up producing stellar young men like new Aquinas graduate Brendan Molony.  Brendan represents the many outstanding Aquinas scholarship students who get vital financial help from the donors who play in the annual Peter … More Greens to Green:  Golfing for Sustainability »

        APRIL 27 4 p.m. or April 28 11:30 p.m. on PBS Those are the debut times for a new documentary about the good work going to restore and protect the Great Lakes.  Titled “Growing Up Green,” the 28-minute PBS show takes viewers on a journey into schools … More GREAT LAKES PEOPLE:  MARK YOUR TV CALENDARS! »

Consider what these things have in common.  A vegetable garden in every living room; potato-made plastic bags; a hands-on cradle-to-cradle learning center in the now vacant Grand Rapids Public Museum.  If you said whiz-kids’ solutions for creating a circular economy, a gold star for you.  Another star if you know … More Students Tackle a ‘Wicked Problem’ for $30,000 »

Five years ago the Grand Rapids Public Schools and Peter M. Wege joined forces to create a sixth-grade program focused on environmental education at City High Middle.   That was how the Center For Economicology – named for Peter Wege’s philosophy and books – came to be.          Wege coined the … More Parent Magazine: One of the “Coolest Schools in America” »

The October invitation to “See you under the stars for a bedazzling evening” happened under a tent with  200 nature lovers wearing Jeans and Jewelry. The FUNdraiser for Blandford Nature Center began by naming Peter M. Wege the first winner of its Crown Jewel Award. In 2006 when Blandford lost … More Wonder, Blandford Nature Center’s Goat, Steals the Show »

Peter M. Wege’s beloved Lowell farm is the setting for this inspiring video of an environmental and educational program The Wege Foundation started three years ago for Grand Rapids Public School students. Partnering with Aquinas, Calvin, and Hope, the Foundation aims to introduce these GRPS high schoolers to colleges as … More Path to College starts at Wege Farm »

The noisy chatter of children filling the seats on three sides of the stage quickly turned to hushed attentiveness as six Arabian princesses appeared in gauzy costumes. Circle Theatre’s summer performance of The Mystic Tale of Aladdin had begun. Middle-schoolers, grade-schoolers, and pre-schoolers sat mesmerized by the lush setting in the Sultan’s … More Three Aladdin’s Three Wishes and the PAC »

The 30th annual Aquinas Emeritus Award went to a husband and wife who in their individual ways have demonstrated the highest standard of honoring family, community, and always, always young people. The 2013 winners Dave and Linda Mehney exemplify the Emeritus values of “ leadership, generosity, and spirit of service.” … More Motorcycles, Arabians, 20 Grandchildren, and the Emeritus Honor »

Mark Van Putten has more than 30 years of experience in environmental policymaking and nonprofit organizational leadership at the international, national, regional, and local levels. He serves as a Public Interest Law Fellow at the University of Michigan Law School; a member of the School of Natural Resources & Environment … More Wege Foundation consultant delivers Commencement Speech at U of M »

During Aquinas College’s Commencement ceremonies May 4, Ellen Satterlee, CEO of The Wege Foundation, was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Public Policy.  Since 1988, Ellen Satterlee has served as Peter M. Wege’s chief executive running the family foundation he set up in 1967. Aquinas College said this of their new … More Wege Foundation Leader Earns an Honorary Doctorate »

Caitlin Wege and her sister Jessica Wege McClear stand by the hand-carved basswood doors leading into one of two sixth-grade classroom in the new LEED-certified school building. Jeff Lende, one of the two Blandford teachers, did the carving of nature themes highlighting the outdoor school’s focus on the environment.

Pictured above, the new 7,000 square-foot LEED-certified Blandford School sets a precedent for the Grand Rapids Public Schools. Not only does it feature the latest advancements in green building, Blandford also sets a new financing standard.  With the lead $1.5 million gift from The Wege Foundation and other private donors … More GRPS’s Blandford School Raises the Bar »

Grand Rapids Public Schools City High/Middle School recently hosted an all-day seminar based on Peter Wege’s two books, ECONOMICOLOGY I and II. City’s Economicology Expo focused on Wege’s advocacy for balancing the “economy” with the “ecology.” Forty-plus outside speakers gave programs in their particular areas of expertise. Their topics ranged … More ECO EXPO Takes Over City High/Middle »

An historic groundbreaking took place in May marking the first public school in Grand Rapids  to be built with 90% of the $2 million-plus  cost coming from the private sector. The new Blandford School will open early in 2013 welcoming 60 GRPS sixth-graders to the nature school’s first permanent home. … More Blandford School: A GRPS Gamechanger »

Ferris State University’s Kendall College of Art and Design held a dual celebration in May when the doors opened to its $31 million renovation of the old Federal Building. In addition to taking tours of the former courthouse and post office, guests welcomed Kendall’s new president and said goodbye to … More Kendall Presidents: Hail and Farewell »

Healing lead-poisoning in children with backpacks? According to the new Dean of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & the Environment, books in a backpack are indeed a good start! And Dean Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda should know. She is an academician and a pediatrician whose research specialty – and passion … More University of Michigan’s  Newest Dean Wows Her Audience »

How many people know that studying fine art not only enhances artistic skills, but also raises reading scores? Some 1500 third-graders from the Grand Rapids Public Schools do because it worked for them last year! And this year almost 2,000 8-9 year olds are making new visual and verbal connections … More NEWS FLASH on Improving Children’s Reading Skills: ART »

The $2.3 million campaign to put up a permanent school building for 60 sixth-graders in the Grand Rapids Public Schools will break ground in two ways next spring. Literally it will move turf for the LEED certified classroom building. Figuratively it makes history as the first public school in Grand … More ‘Renew Blandford School’ a First for GRPS »

October 11, 2011, was declared Peter Wege Night by Grand Rapids Community College’s Foundation. The program described Wege as a “Local Legend” and “Global Thinker” adding that the Grand Rapids native is “100% Homegrown.” GRCC President Steven Ender, pictured above with his wife Karen and Peter, called Wege “Our third … More Grand Rapids CC Pays Tribute To Peter Wege »

Jamon Alexander, a former BEEP – or “Blandford Environmental Education Program” graduate – stands with Annoesjka Steinman (top left), Blandford Nature Center’s director, at Peter Wege’s Lowell farm on a perfect September evening. Jamon told the friends of Blandford that spending his sixth-grade at Blandford changed his life. While Jamon … More Peter Wege’s Farm Hosts Friends of Blandford »

Aquinas’s Reflections Award this year went to three people who are not only long-time friends of the college’s, but they are also long-time friends themselves. Pictured here (on the left) at the ceremony September 19 are the three honorees: Ralph Hauenstein, Sister Aquinas Weber, and Peter Wege (seated) with Aquinas … More Aquinas College Honors Triumvirate »

To Peter Wege, Jonathan is not only a gifted scholar, teacher, and researcher, but he is also one of Peter’s closest friends. They first met in Lansing in 1991 when Dr. Bulkley and Greg Keoleian, his Ph.D student at the time, invited Peter to serve as the new NPPC’s first … More Wege Surprise Honors Dr. Jonathan Bulkley »

In April 2011, eight students and two educators from the Grand Rapids Public Schools’ City High/Middle School spent over a week in Costa Rica on a trip that, in the students’ own written words, had a profound impact on their lives. The eight young men and women from the Center … More Economicology Students Share Costa Rica’s pura vida »

Chris Palmer delivered the 15th annual Aquinas College Wege Lecture at 4 pm April 15. Earlier in the day, the internationally known environmental filmmaker began sharing his films and stories with 120 enthusiastic sixth-graders from the Grand Rapids Public Schools’ Blandford School, Zoo School and the Center for Economicology, housed … More Wildlife Filmmaker Captivates GRPS Students »

After a three year application process, Grand Rapids Public School’s City High/Middle School is the first in the area to offer a Middle Years International Baccalaureate degree. Seventh-tenth graders at City/Middle must now take, among other IB requirements, a world language – Chinese, French, or Spanish. The IB’s rigorous, two-year … More INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMA AT GRPS CITY HIGH/MIDDLE »

Ishmael Beah, born in Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa, was kidnapped by government troops when he was 12 and forced into their army. By age 13, government soldiers had trained him to kill or be killed by the rebel troops during a civil war that started in … More Former Boy Soldier Speaks at City High’s Graduation »

Aquinas College announced its new Master of Sustainable Business Degree, the first of its kind in the upper Midwest, at a luncheon held May 25 in Aquinas’s Wege Center. Introducing the new offering, President Ed Balog gave Peter M. Wege full credit for pushing Aquinas in this direction starting in … More NEW MASTERS OF SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEGREE IN G.R. »

  You cannot save what you do not know and love. Aldo Leopold, American ecologist The week of Earth Day April 2010 was celebrated at Grand Rapids Public Schools’ City High/Middle School when Dr. Sylvia Earle, an internationally famous oceanographer, spent a morning there. Dr. Earle held students spellbound as … More Famous Oceanographer Engages GRPS Students »

Blandford Nature Center is an environmental, wildlife nature center and school in northwest Grand Rapids created in the 1960s. Several years ago Blandford’s chief funder, the Grand Rapids Public Museum Board, realized they could no longer afford to pay the bills. They turned to the Grand Rapids Public Schools, but … More NEW BLANDFORD LEADER HITS THE GROUND RUNNING »

Peter M. Wege has forever said that if this planet is to be saved, “The kids must do it.” He’s counting on the children pictured here at Ada Christian School in Grand Rapids to help promote the Take Back The Tap campaign The Wege Foundation has launched to end the … More The Kids Take on : TAKE BACK THE TAP »

Despite 1.9 million people squeezed together for hours in freezing weather on Inauguration Day, Tuesday, January 20, City High School senior Britany Benson said “everyone was in such good spirits…people of all ages and backgrounds, across the board—it didn’t matter. We all felt united.” Britany and her classmate Bernard Schaefer … More Wege Foundation Sends Students to Inauguration »

To say the first economicology curriculum in town is up and running after one semester is not exactly true. Students at City High/Middle School have raced out of the gate to implement the principles of balancing the economy with the ecology. Peter Wege has advocated this philosophy since starting The … More City High/Middle School Students Hit Economicology Turf »

In 2002 when Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, built a world-class family recreation center in a blighted part of San Diego, no crystal ball could have foreseen the impact of her gift. That original Kroc Community Center elevated the neighborhood and the endless streams of families … More The Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers: How they came to be »

Thanks to The Wege Foundation, the Grand Rapids Public Schools are infusing Peter Wege’s concept of economicology into the curriculum. Wege coined the word economicology to define the balance needed between the economy and the ecology. The word summarizes Wege’s advocacy for educating the public on the reality that a … More Economicology Principles Move into Grand Rapids’ Classrooms »

The 2008 Climate Leadership Summit of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment concluded its two days of meetings in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 6. Speaking at the closing luncheon, the chairman of the ACUPCC and president of Arizona State University, Michael M. Crowe did not tiptoe around … More ASU Chief Goes After Fellow Academic Leaders »

At a black-time banquet in the Amway Grand Hotel, Junior Achievement of West Michigan named Peter M. Wege the winner of the 2008 Edward J. Frey Distinguished Achievement Award. It was Edward J. Frey, a Grand Rapids banker and insurance entrepreneur, who founded the local chapter of Junior Achievement in … More Junior Achievement of West Michigan Honors Peter M. Wege »

Visit www.css.snre.umich.edu/facts Since the early 1990s, Peter Wege has been actively involved with the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Michigan where he went to school. In 1991, when the SNR & E won the Environmental Protection Agency’s national competition to house the country’s first … More Want Quick Green Facts and In-depth Info? »

On a hot August day in 2006, Peter M. Wege had the honor of cutting a big red ribbon to open the newly rebuilt East Grand Rapids Library and City Hall on Reeds Lake. The privilege was Peter’s not only for his generous financial support, but also for his prodding … More NEW SOLAR PANELS SAVE ENERGY, PROMOTE LEARNING »

The University of Michigan paid its highest tribute to lifelong East Grand Rapids resident Peter M. Wege by awarding him an honorary degree as a Doctor of Laws. Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University, gave the Honorary Doctorate to Peter M. Wege during the University of Michigan’s winter commencement … More PETER WEGE RECEIVES HONORARY DOCTORATE FROM THE U OF M »

The December issue of Grand Rapids Magazine published brief profiles on the 25 people their staff considered the city’s most important. The first person listed was Peter M. Wege. In Peter Wege’s biography titled “Looking Beyond Horizons,” reporter Curt Wozniak gave him credit for making Grand Rapids, Michigan, the greenest … More G. R. MAGAZINE NAMES PETER M. WEGE ONE OF CITY’S MOST POWERFUL »

ECONOMICOLOGY Enters a Global Curriculum at City High In the 1990s, Peter Wege coined the word “economicology” to define the balance the world must find between “economics” and “ecology.” His 1998 book ECONOMICOLOGY: The Eleventh Commandment documents Peter’s philosophy that a prosperous economy requires a healthy environment. Now the premier … More THE FIRST PILLAR – EDUCATION »