May 17, 2000
Water Watch workshops
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From water to worms to windmills, the fifth annual Water Watch Congress brought together students from around the Grand Traverse Bay watershed for a day of educational activities and information exchange. More than 350 students of all ages came from 22 area schools to participate.
Held last Wednesday at the Milliken Auditorium and Northwestern Michigan College, the congress kicked off with the presentation of the Watershed Suite project by Sabin Elementary School fourth-grade students. Students at that school spent the past three months working with artist Glenn Wolff, poet Terry Wooten and musician John Wunsch to create a mural, poems and a song about the watershed.
The Grand Traverse Regional Math, Science and Technology Center sponsored the congress, which was coordinated by the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative. Organizers conceived the conference five years ago as a way to alter students look at water and their environment.
"We are hoping to create a sense of stewardship for water and keeping it clean," said Kate Fairman, a coordinator with the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative. "We want them to have a sensitivity to all the different elements that are part of the water."
The day-long congress featured a variety of workshops by area ecology professionals and presentations by students from each school. Workshops allowed students to tour the Traverse City Light and Power Wind Generator or area wetlands while others visited a local stream to learn about debris from trees or to look for amphibians. Students also designed an environmentally-friendly development for the growing region, learned about careers related to water, discussed groundwater pollution, and heard stories of Great Lakes diving.
The Congress provided students with a living lesson in how water works in our lives, noted science teacher Kim Fleming from Traverse City Central High School.
"Being that we are in this area, with such a vast amount of water, my concern is that students value what we have here and learn that they can impact decisions when they become voters in just a few years," said Fleming, who also teaches chemistry. "They need to know that every time you flush your toilet, use the dishwasher or turn on the faucet, it uses water and has an impact on the planet."
Many schools that participated in the Water Watch Congress completed a hands-on water project in advance, which allowed teachers to design lessons around the activities. The projects were coordinated by the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative. At the congress, students presented the data they gathered and their analysis of it to the rest of the participants.
"The Congress is the culmination of having studied the watershed during the year," Fairman said. "The students can then attend workshops related to their studies. It is really an exciting program and the students do an excellent job."
Fleming's tenth-grade students from her Environmental Science class completed a water testing project at Miller Creek. They took water samples both upstream and downstream and looked at varying conditions in the area surrounding the creek in both places.
"Students got to see how a swamp works and it was an eye-opening experience for them," Fleming said. "You can read about it in the classroom but it is not the same."