NMU alumnus and current student Tyler LaPlaunt is one of two Sault Tribe Community Health Educators to gain national attention for successful initiatives to improve the health of youth in the Upper Peninsula. LaPlaunt was selected as a panelist for the 2016 Building Michigan Communities Conference in Lansing. More than 1,700 people from Michigan and throughout the nation attended.

LaPlaunt highlighted coalition efforts that led to newly expanded after-school and summer programming for youth at the K. I. Sawyer Community Center in Gwinn. The Youth Education and Activities program is provided by the Sault Tribe, and is a win-win for kids and working parents by offering a safe, structured, and enriching environment for K-12 youth. 

“We wanted to show we built and enhanced a community by simply creating partnerships and sharing resources,” LaPlaunt said in a press release “We are utilizing what’s available to us, plus some manpower, to create programming and recreation that has a positive effect on the health of the community.” 

LaPlaunt was joined on the panel by Erin Carter, extension educator for the Marquette County Michigan State University Extension Office.