Students Today Leaders Forever from University of Minnesota Photo by Kevin Holcomb March 18, 2008

Spring Break, University of Minnesota students Photo by Kevin Holcomb March 18, 2008

40 students from the University of Minnesota chose to spend their Spring Break doing volunteer work across the country.  The students are members of Students Today Leaders Forever (STLE), a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis, MN.  "With an emphasis on revealing leadership through service, relationships, and actions, STLF's vision is to leave an everlasting impact in the world."  Students on their Spring Break from college, join the Pay It Forward Tour, a community service road trip on charter buses with students traveling from city to city doing a different service project each day.  These students removed four truck loads of invasive species from Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, under the supervision of refuge biologists Kevin Holcomb and Vinny Turner.  Chinese bush clover has overtaken the path to our experimental pool observation platform.  This is one of many activities planned to eradicate invasive species on the refuge.

After a thank you lunch of pizza and drinks, the students hopped aboard their bus to travel on to Washington DC, then home to Minnesota.   "Thank you so much for having us at the refuge during our spring break Pay it Forward Tour!  All the students enjoyed it very much.  I heard so many great things during the actual project.  Thank you for the pizza and pop.  We hope to keep you in mind for future tours!"- Nick Braun, student leader.