MSU Geography to facilitates inaugural Geography Education Symposium at AAG conference in Detroit

March 26, 2025

FDA students and facilitators at AAG Annual Conference in Detroit, March 2025

The Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at Michigan State University was excited to help facilitate a special Geography Education Symposium at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Conference in Detroit, Michigan. This inaugural symposium offered a day-long schedule of activities for educators covering geography in schools, colleges, and universities, including sessions, panels, networking, mentoring, and field trips. The purpose of the symposium was to address geography education and professional pathways at K-12 schools, two-year colleges, and undergraduate programs, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Predominantly Black Institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges.

Students and educators from the Frederick Douglass Academy participated in the first AAG Education Symposium.

Several students from the award-winning GIS Pathway Program at Frederick Douglass Academy (FDA GIS) at Northern High School in Detroit were selected to present their work and share their insights in a series of panel presentations. These emerging GIS scholars shared their initial encounters with geospatial technologies, the excitement of discovering real-world applications, and the challenges of stepping into a rapidly evolving field.

An initial session titled Charting New Paths: Amplifying Voices of Emerging Pathway Students, led by MSU Geography Senior Academic Specialist Ryan Shadbolt, aimed to illuminate the transformative potential of GIS education at the entry level and inspire broader discussions on how to support and empower the next generation of geospatial leaders. “Through student voices, we explored the role of GIS pathways in building technical skills, fostering critical thinking, and cultivating global problem-solvers,” said R. Michael Cousins, Vice Chairman of the FDA GIS Advisory Board and alum of the MSU Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences.

A second session, titled Regional Partnerships for Geospatial Technologies Career Education, featured a panel of school teachers, students, STEM educators, college faculty, GIS practitioners, and workforce professionals who will share their experiences establishing a regional geospatial technologies talent consortium. This consortium offers college GIS course credits to regional schools, provides career soft-skill training, organizes paid summer internships and GIS and drone summer camps, and sponsors the GIS professional certification and the FAA Part 107 Drone Pilot License exams. The panel will discuss the opportunities, shared visions and responsibilities, and challenges of coordinating and maintaining the regional consortium. The panel showcased several successful stories of students participating in their geospatial technologies learning and career development.

Following a lunch provided to participants, the symposium concluded with a final session also led by Shadbolt, titled Future Leaders in Actions: Insights from Award-Winning GIS Pathway Students. During this session, students from FDA GIS spoke about the impact of participating in this distinguished and award-winning GIS Pathways Program. FDA GIS was recognized by the National Academies Foundation (NAF) as a Distinguished Academy. Students engaged in a question-and-answer session about how the GIS Pathways Program has grown and the impactful opportunities that it provides.