Author Archives: Chloe Sprecker

WATERSHED BIOLOGY FIELD TRIP

Watershed Biology Trip Group

2018, Sacramento, California, USA

Evelin Pelayo knew that if her fellow students were to become stewards of the watershed, they first needed to engage directly with it through hands-on study of our natural resources. Without this direct experience, she felt it would be more difficult for her classmates to feel connected to the natural world and make choices to protect it. Therefore, Evelin wrote a proposal to fund a field trip to Donner Summit, where students would collect and analyze data under the guidance of Headwaters Institute staff.

Watershed Biology Trip 1

Each group studied a different aspect of Watershed Biology. For example, her group studied water depth and flow in relation to the number and species of invertebrates, while another sampled vegetation at various distances from water to compare.

Evelin’s Caring for Our Watersheds proposal and funding from Nutrien helped more of her classmates have this unique experience, in which they learned about scientific data collection techniques, the interaction of biotic and abiotic factors, the local environment, and each other on a whole new level.

Putah Creek Clean-Up

2018, Sacramento/Davis, California, USA

While Simon Downes-Toney goes to school at The MET Sacramento, he lives in the nearby town of Davis, California. Therefore, when choosing a location for his Caring for Our Watersheds project, he chose a place near and dear to his home and heart, the banks of Putah Creek.

Putah Creek flows through the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, where many students and residents utilize a paved path along the waterway. Simon organized a clean-up day, where he and his fellow classmates walked this riparian corridor and collected trash and debris.

This simple, straightforward project helped keep trash from entering the waterway, protected wildlife and waterfowl that reside there, and cleaned and beautified a public space enjoyed by many in the community.

A VERTICAL GARDEN DEMO

2018, Sacramento, California, USA

Vertical Garden Demonstration

As Ella Mills and Ava Siemering of George Washington Carver High School shared an interest in horticulture, they knew they wanted to grow plants as part of their Caring for Our Watersheds project.

After doing some research, they learned about vertical gardens and how they can allow people to utilize the space available in urban environments more efficiently and economically. In addition, they can help improve air quality in congested areas, as well as provide food, aesthetic value, and energy savings. They decided that they wanted to experiment with different designs for these gardens using recycled, or reclaimed materials and create one as a demonstration for their garden class at school.

This process led them to create a small vertical garden which demonstrated how to place plants with higher water requirements on top and plants that need less water below. The lower plants can survive on what drips out of the holes from the ones watered on top. They presented their hands-on experiment in water conservation and horticulture to the students in the garden club and talked about the benefits of vertical gardening.

Campus Mural and Garden

2018, Sacramento, California, USA

Jesha Morgan, Jackson Mossman, Emma Lotter, and Dominic Wing, students at George Washington Carver School of Arts and Sciences, combined their passions for art and gardening in their Caring for Our Watersheds project.

Campus Mural

In an effort to communicate an environmental message, beautify their campus, and demonstrate water-wise planting, this group completed a project that included painting a large water- and nature-themed mural and planting a small California native species garden in an adjacent area. They hope to awaken a sense of environmental consciousness in the student body as they see and interact with the art and garden.

SHEILA POTTER, GRADE 8 TEACHER AT HILLCREST PUBLIC SCHOOL, ONTARIO

“This program does something that teachers strive for but rarely achieve: It brings our curriculum to life. And I think you changed lives in the process.”

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR LONG-TERM EFFECTS

2018, Sacramento, California, USA

Emily Crofoot, a student at The MET Sacramento High School, wanted to not only educate her fellow students on some important environmental issues and how humans have impacted them, but to also present some simple solutions that would not require a radical lifestyle change and would have financial and/ or health benefits for students too.

She created a presentation entitled “Simple Solutions for Long- Term Effects” and presented it to 8 advisory classes at school. To encourage students to participate in the presentation/ discussion, Emily held a raffle. Students would receive tickets when they answered questions or contributed to the discussion. After the presentation, she would draw tickets and the raffle winners took home various sustainable goods, such as reusable water bottles, pencils made from recycled newspapers etc.

A fun way to engage students in an important topic!

DRIP IRRIGATION FOR THE MET GARDEN

2018, Sacramento, California, USA

As Vice President of the Garden Club at The MET Sacramento High School, Isa Sheikh had ideas for making the garden a more water efficient, sustainable operation. With Caring for Our Watersheds project funding, he installed a drip irrigation system that would allow each plant to be watered directly, reducing moisture loss through evaporation.

The timer installed with the system allows plants to be watered at the most appropriate times of day (which is not always when the club is meeting on campus), and watering can continue on school breaks and throughout the summer. This simple upgrade to the school garden is conserving water and helping to grow a thriving garden on campus.

Begging for Air (Song)

The inspirational song, Begging for Air, was submitted in the 2017-2018 school year by Manitoba finalists Alexander Clemis and local singer-songwriter, Faouzia Ouihya. The ballad is written from the perspective of a tree, with the intention to motivate others to create change in their community.

“The most important aspect of our solution is it can help inspire humans of all ages all over the world to protect and even promote their own
watershed for the future generations to come.” -Faouzia.

Participating teachers received a Caring for Our Watersheds USB with a copy of the song and an informational poster.

Silence Please

2018 San Antonio de Areco, Buenos Aires, Argentina

EES N° 1, San Antonio de Areco. Students: Aylén, Melina, Tomás, Martina silence please student action

This project is based on the recycling of waste materials and the impact of sounds as a health issue. It proposes to use different materials to improve the acoustic problems in the classrooms of this High School. After trying out different recycling materials, based on acoustic measures made by the students, they confirmed that this intervention is beneficial for the classrooms.

They will choose a classroom as model and will alter its walls and roof with different “layers” that will help improve the noise levels. The idea is to measure the impact of this intervention as a previous step to proposing a school-wide intervention of all the classrooms in the school.

*This project received the donation of floor from Nutrien Ag Solutions, cardboard tube, and its waiting the final approval for the class intervention.

Bike Powered Charger

2018, Sacramento, California, USA

Bike Powered Charger

Justis Cooper had a unique idea to build a bike/ pedal powered generator students could use in the school workout room to charge their cell phones. This project will help demonstrate an energy-saving device (by “self” producing energy through pedaling) and encourage interest in sustainable technology at his school, The MET Sacramento.

Justis interns at a bike shop in Sacramento, so he had some “industry” knowledge and a mentor to help him complete his project. He plans on including signage by the bike to highlight the project and so students understand what they are using, how it works, and the potential energy savings. Stay fit and fully charged!