Schools help shape our youth and our youth are our future. In this article, we’ll discuss how we work with schools, share the Flows To Bay teacher toolkit and contest, and announce the winners of our second Flows to Bay High School contest!
How Do We Work with Schools?
Our school outreach program aims to educate and inspire environmental problem-solving in school-aged children and their parents through a county-wide contest. This year, we tied school outreach into our Flows to Bay Challenge by providing participating classes with workshop opportunities and tips on how to reduce water pollution on school campuses, and thinking of innovative ways to capture and reuse rainwater. By partnering with teachers to educate students, we hope to encourage critical thinking and a sense of environmental responsibility among youths in San Mateo County.
Teacher Toolkit and Flows to Bay High School Contest:
The Flows to Bay High School contest is open to all high school students in San Mateo County. We encourage students to brainstorm in small groups and submit mock proposals of projects that will help “green” their school campus. These projects could literally involve greening schoolyards, by creating concepts for rain gardens or rainwater capture and reuse facilities —also known as rain barrels. We provide a teacher toolkit to educate students about the issues and get them excited about the contest. This year, our toolkit highlighted three key themes for stormwater pollution prevention:
- Rainwater as a Resource
- Litter Reduction and Removal
- Removing and Replacing Toxics
Students are encouraged to take these broader ideas and concepts and generate new ways of managing stormwater, litter, and chemicals at their schools to reduce the impact. Many students tap into their creative and engineering sides to propose compelling solutions that really could hold water!
Winning Student Proposals:
After reviewing all the submissions (19 classes countywide) the Flows To Bay team selected three winning proposals for our contest:
1. Grizzlies Go Green Club from Jefferson High School: In this proposal from Jefferson High School, students created a project designed to reduce litter at their school by installing water bottle refill stations. These refill stations will target plastic bottle litter at their school and provide a more appealing alternative to regular drinking fountains. In addition to these refill stations, the students proposed to hang up educational posters at each of the stations to teach students more about stormwater pollution.
2. Evelyn, Alexandra, and Valentina from Menlo-Atherton High School: This proposal presented by students from Menlo-Atherton High School targets recycling efforts and littering education at their school. Their proposal includes providing teachers with educational materials, developing a waste reduction plan that involves the entire student body, creating litter programs, and investigating and implementing green purchasing programs. All of these actions will help achieve their goals of promoting a sustainable and environmentally-aware school culture and encouraging student participation and leadership.
3. Alex, Justin, and Ethan from Carlmont High School: These students from Carlmont High school proposed a plan that utilizes green infrastructure to target flooding and stormwater ponding at their school. More specifically, they suggest implementing rain gardens and swales that will alleviate flooding issues in certain parts of the school. Additionally, they proposed replacing regular pavement with permeable pavement to prevent standing water in walkways and lunch areas of the school.
Congratulations to our winning proposals! We were impressed with all of the creative solutions students proposed to improve their schools. As a reward for the hard work, we have partnered with the Marine Science Institute to give the each of the winning students an Ecovoyage. During the Ecovoyage, students will get to tour the San Francisco Bay via boat, partaking in hands-on activities such as water quality monitoring, fish identification and plankton drags!
We want to thank everyone for all their efforts and hard work. If you’re interested in learning more about our school outreach programs or want your students/children to get involved, feel free to contact us with any questions!
