Sometimes the mark of innovation is survival.
Allegheny faculty and students have been studying the French Creek Watershed for 50 years. Over time, some local elementary, middle, and high school students have endured closures and consolidations, leading to less opportunities for getting out into their local environment. Field trips are cut from budgets, leaving students to learn from sometimes outdated books.
With the help of leaders like Wendy Kedzierski, director of Allegheny’s Creek Connections, Allegheny students work with young area students to get back outside. More than just a field trip, Creek Connections allows students to act as citizen scientists and do real field work. On a monthly basis, kids are contributing to the study of watershed health.
“Creek Connections could not exist without the Creekers (Allegheny College students) going to the schools and stream sites to teach middle and high schoolers,” says Director Kedzierski. “Creekers use what they are learning in their classes as well as specialized training to bring engaging, hands-on environmental education to students throughout western Pennsylvania. The college students gain valuable experience teaching others and finding effective methods of communication in addition to general workplace skills.”
The data the students are collecting provides critical information about the water quality in their own area. Students learn that “we all live downstream” and that what happens on land affects the water and the plants and animals living in the water. Spending time outdoors investigating their local waterways leads to an environmentally informed community. On a broader level, Allegheny’s environmental science and sustainability program instills an understanding of the value of nature itself, which is the first step toward impacting our world.
“The teachers really appreciate our assistance. When we are doing this work with their students, they don’t have to be the expert on water quality monitoring on aquatic ecology, on all the things that we can help teach, ” says Kedzierski.
This confluence of aquatic ecology, citizen science, and water quality make Creek Connections a leader in environmental science learning that begins at a young age, with area youth.
