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AP Environmental Science students pose with their Judges’ Choice Award from the Aquaculture Challenge during an all-school assembly at Harbor City International School on June 5, 2025. Pictured (left to right) are August Marcusen, Blythe Halenbeck, Sacha Mozenter, Astrid Levy, Francesca Tanberg, Miirah O’Neill and Leo Carpenter.

Harbor City’s Action Club Team (ACT)is a youth-led climate initiative group aimed at working on projects related to conservation, sustainability and so much more. 

Our goal is to promote real change in our community through advocating for causes and learning. This year we’ve had some amazing opportunities and accomplishments including: 

Climate Action and Sustainability Summit: The Climate Action and Sustainability Summit was held on April 24, run with the help of Youth in Action and their engagement coordinator Aimee Bannwarth. 
Held at the Depot in downtown Duluth, this summit focused on fostering an environment for students and community members alike to get in touch with different environmental action-related organizations. This event featured a free clothing swap with clothing donated by Jack Pine Vintage for any attendee to partake in, cookies graciously donated from Positively Third Street Bakery, and raffle prizes supported in part by Youth Eco Solutions.

This was an amazing event in which we were able to connect with many wonderful, dedicated organizations that share similar values to those of ACT. We look forward to continuing this event in the future!

Climate Action Project Showcase and Bad River Documentary screening: This year, Harbor City Biology students were tasked with creating a Climate Action project. Given a month and a half, students were challenged to create a project working to change a system negatively affecting the climate. 

Students were given freedom in their approach to this project. Some chose to take personal action, while others focused on making a change in the local community. To conclude the hard work done on these projects, a showcase was held in which students could present their project to peers and teachers with the ultimate goal to inspire personal climate action among others. 

The showcase ended with a screening of Bad River, a documentary which discusses the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s fight with Enbridge Energy and their Line 5 oil pipeline. 

Climate Action Simulation Lessons: The Institute on the Environment from the University of Minnesota brought a unique learning opportunity to Harbor City Students in the Biology and AP Environmental Science classes with a unique climate action simulation. 

This program, which included using the EN-ROADS simulation and lessons centered around green energy careers, challenged students to tackle the complex issue of climate change in a mock-summit setting. Students worked in groups tasked with addressing the climate crisis from different perspectives, such as conventional energy, world governments, and climate justice activists.. 

Stormwater Pollution Prevention/Adopt-a-Drain/Chalk Art:  Harbor City has had the opportunity to work with Adopt-A-Drain quite a few times this year. This year’s science classes had a week of curriculum, which included a lesson from City of Duluth Utility Programs Coordinator Ryan Granlund, dedicated to learning about stormwater pollution and how it can be prevented.  

We then had the chance to adopt a few drains near our school, name them, and then clear them of pollutants. After we had taken care of our drains, we made chalk art on the sidewalk in front of our school, talking about the importance of water and the effects that water pollution can have on ecosystems and animals. 

Show Us Your Mussels: AP Environmental Science students took part in the Minnesota Zoo’s Show Us Your Mussels competition. The competition challenges students to learn about freshwater mussels and their importance to local ecosystems and the threats they face, and then teach other people about this knowledge through social media posts. Harbor City’s teams reached more than 6,000 people with their social media posts, winning 5th place in the competition and a field trip to the Minnesota Zoo. 

Aquaculture Challenge: Harbor City’s AP Environmental Science students participated in the Aquaculture Challenge, which was sponsored and supported by Minnesota Sea Grant, Michigan Sea Grant, Center for Great Lakes Literacy and Lake Superior State University. Students develop plans for and build an aquaponics system, then monitor the system and the growth of the fish and plants in the system. 

More than 150 students from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ohio and Michigan participated in the challenge; Harbor City was the only Minnesota school to participate. 

The Harbor City team won the Judges Choice Award, and the judges were particularly impressed with the monitoring of the system as well as the outreach challenge, which included sharing a salsa recipe on social media.

The Sustainability Summit could not have been made possible without our awesome Duluth community and tabling organizations, so a huge thank you to: Youth Eco Solutions, Climate Generation, Water Legacy, Waterstop, Youth In Action, Crave by Carli, FDLTCC Environmental Institute, City of Duluth lead pipe replacement, MN350, Judi Roux, Adopt-A-Drain, Ecolibrium3, Duluth Gear Exchange, WLSSD Resource Renew, Waankam: People for the Estuary, Twin Ports Teen Science Cafe UMD, Climate> Duluth, Jack Pine Vintage, Positively Third Street Bakery, Optimum Solar, MPCA, Ecolibrium3, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, and Duluth for Clean Water. 

Aspen Herbert is a sophomore at Harbor City International School. Aspen writes, “This is about my first full year on Harbor City’s Action Club Team, and it has been a wonderful experience. I enjoy community organizing and environmental activism, and I am excited to be part of Action Club next year!”

Wylan Ausing is a junior at Harbor City International School. Wylan writes, “This is my second official year on Action Club Team. It has been really amazing to be a part of this activism-focused group. I’m a big fan of public speaking, community organizing, teaching and much more. I’m excited to continue my work with Action Club into my senior year of high school.”

Brian Scott is a science teacher and adviser to Action Club Team at Harbor City International School. Brian writes, “Harbor City’s science courses and extracurricular environment club allows students to take the lead on environmental stewardship, climate action and environmental education. Our accomplishments this year are a testament to the students’ passion and dedication to action.”