{"id":9914,"date":"2023-08-11T08:01:28","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T13:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=9914"},"modified":"2023-08-11T09:03:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T14:03:00","slug":"water-quality-monitoring-program-connects-teens-to-environment-freshwater-collaborative-of-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/water-quality-monitoring-program-connects-teens-to-environment-freshwater-collaborative-of-wisconsin\/","title":{"rendered":"Water-quality monitoring program connects teens to environment \u2013 Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Data collected by high school students contributes to long-term monitoring of the Fox Valley watershed. (Photo courtesy of Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Dana Lex, a science teacher at West De Pere High School, was approached by UW-Green Bay faculty in 2006 to participate in a new water-quality monitoring program, she jumped at the opportunity to create a course that would get students outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve built my environmental science class around this project, and I feel it helps students be better parents, citizens and voters and to know that their future is connected to the health of the environment because they actually have experienced it firsthand,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

UW-Green Bay\u2019s\u00a0Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program<\/a>\u00a0has grown into a network of teachers and students from 11 area high schools and middle schools who monitor environmentally impaired streams in the Fox River watershed for water quality and ecological health.<\/p>\n

Student teams collect data that help researchers assess long-term trends and evaluate restoration efforts throughout the watershed. It\u2019s important work that helps measure runoff pollution flowing to the Fox River and Bay of Green Bay where it contributes to the much publicized \u201cdead zone\u201d in the bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing involved with the program connects students to their environment in ways you cannot replicate any other way. It\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d Lex says. \u201cThere are so many\u00a0careers out there related to environmental\u00a0health and sustainability is becoming more mainstream every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Students create poster presentations and talk about their research during the Annual Watershed Symposium. (Photo courtesy of Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Participating students present their research findings to students, teachers, UW-Green Bay faculty and staff, and community members at the Annual Watershed Symposium. The 16th annual event in spring 2023 was funded by a grant from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and involved about 10 teachers, 65 students and 15 college and community professionals.<\/p>\n

During the symposiums, participants exchange ideas; share research findings through panel discussions, posters and presentations; compare data from their streams; and interact with researchers in water-quality fields. This year they also heard form Anna Qualls, who will graduate from De Pere High School in May 2023. Qualls was the first high school intern to participate in UW-Green-Bay\u2019s Freshwater Summer Scholars Internship Program, which is also supported by the Freshwater Collaborative. (Read about her experience<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe symposium is a great place to share data and see how our watershed is connected.\u00a0You get a sense that with enough data and enough voices, we can and will make a difference improving our water resources,\u201d says Mark Valentine, a science teacher at Aldo Leopold Community School in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

Valentine joined the program and UW-Green Bay\u2019s Wild Rice in the Classroom program as a first-year teacher two years ago, and 2023 was the first time his eighth-grade students presented their findings from monitoring the Fox River.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program provides great hands-on learning opportunities for our students and helps them understand the impacts we have on the water quality here locally,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is a wonderful opportunity to get out of the classroom and know that the data we are collecting can have a positive impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0Water-Quality Monitoring Program Connects Teens to Environment \u2013 Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Originally posted by Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and UW-Green Bay<\/p>\n

Link to story: https:\/\/news.uwgb.edu\/phlash\/news\/06\/20\/water-quality-monitoring-program-connects-teens-to-environment-freshwater-collaborative-of-wisconsin\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dana Lex, a science teacher at West De Pere High School, was approached by UW-Green Bay faculty in 2006 to participate in a new water-quality monitoring program, she jumped at the opportunity to create a course that would get students outdoors. \u201cI\u2019ve built my environmental science class around this project, and I feel it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[111],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-9914","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-green-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/9914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=9914"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=9914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}