Fourth-annual Student Summit promotes hands-on learning

Some consider hands-on learning the best way to learn a craft. The Association for Experiential Education and Touch of Nature have created an event for that purpose.

The AEE and Touch of Nature will be holding their fourth-annual Regional Student Summit Friday through Sunday. The summit is run by students with the purpose of giving environmental students a chance for hands-on learning along with meeting members of their industry.

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Evan Coulson, a doctorate candidate in forestry from Ozark, helped found the summit in 2011 with six other graduate and undergraduate students.

Coulson said the summit is experiential. Everything is done by and for the students and there are opportunities for students to even run workshops, he said. These workshops consist of anything from wilderness medicine to environmental education.

There will also be guest speakers in the field of outdoor education, the Shawnee National Forest Group, in addition to live music and food cooked by the students.

Coulson said students from several schools will also be attending the summit and it is a great networking opportunity. They will be meeting future colleagues, he said.

The event is $125 and covers registration, food and lodging at Touch of Nature’s cabins.

For more information, visit http://www.aee.org/nov-2014-heartland-student-summit.

Town Square Market holding 8^th Anniversary Open House

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Organic, natural food has become an important issue in recent years. One local Carbondale store will be celebrating its eighth anniversary of promoting natural produced food this Saturday.

Town Square Market is holding an open house entitled “Happy is Healthy.” This open house celebrates the store’s eight-year anniversary. The store sells food and household items that are deemed environmentally friendly and also includes locally-made crafts.

Jennifer Pellow, the co-owner and manager, said the store was created to show the current rate of buying groceries was not sustainable. She estimates the business works with about a dozen local farmers and about 20 local artisans.

The open house will begin at 10 a.m. with a workshop entitled “Women’s Health.” The day will continue with a food sampling from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Customers can sample products in the store, including the daily soups.

Pellow said the event is also being held to promote their new “No GMO/ Yes Product Labeling”campaign. The campaign labels any food product that could be considered a genetically modified organism, she said.

There will also be cooking demonstrations and live music at the open house. Pellow said she  expects anywhere from 100 to 200 people to come in. They are hoping to gain somewhere around 100 new customers, she said.

The Town Square Market is located at 106 E. Jackson St. in Carbondale. The workshop is $15 and the open house is free.

For more information, visit http://www.townsquaremarket.com.