EMPOWER STUDENTS TO POSITIVELY IMPACT THEIR ENVIRONMENT WITH GROUNDWATER GUARDIAN

The Groundwater Guardian program is a national community based effort to educate the public about groundwater-our hidden resource. In Charlotte we are growing exponentially with continuous loss of greenspace and clean water. Our community has a high concentration of homes obtaining water from wells, so the local EPA targeted our area. In this program,my students have the opportunity to apply their learning and to educate others. They work with the Mint Hill town manager, the Mint Hill Better Business Assocation, and several local elementary schools to put on a Water Festival for elementary students and their parents.

The high school students do the fundraising,planning,publicity, implementation, and evaluation of the program. We require each elementary student who attends to bring an adult, and the high school students love educating the adults. The high school students design many hands-on, minds-on activies that cover the chemical, physical,biological, and geological properties of water. They have done such a great job that the group has won national recognition for their work, and several students have won scholarships. Many of the graduates are now majoring in geology, environmental engineering or policy, and hydrogeology because of this experience. Most of them rated this experience as the high light of their high school career.

This project allowed them to become experts on a topic related to groundwater, to provide a community service to their neighborhood, and to serve as positive role models for the elementary students. This is what real education is all about-empowering students to make their world a better place to live!