Ten high school embarked on a weeklong expedition in June throughout the 2,000-square-mile Schuylkill River watershed. | Schuylkill Acts & Impacts: An Expedition to Inspire Watershed Action
On June 7 a group of high school students pushed off into the Schuylkill River on a voyage of environmental discovery. The students came from all five of the SchuylkillWatershed’s counties: Schuylkill, Berks, Montgomery, Chester and Philadelphia. Starting off at the river’s headwaters in Schuylkill County, the students paddled all the way to Philadelphia, learning about environmental problems afflicting the river and some of their solutions.
Central High School rising junior Katherine Laub, one of two Philadelphia students on the trip, toured an abandoned coal mine in Schuylkill County to learn about acid mine drainage and treatment projects. In Berks County, “we learned about agricultural runoff and sustainable practices.” They ended up in Philadelphia, where the group studied pollution from stormwater runoff.
The service learning program, organized by Pottstown’s Schuylkill Headwaters Association and called theSchuylkill Acts and Impacts: An Expedition to Inspire WatershedAction, indeed motivated Laub to educate her neighbors about the watershed. “It makes me want to come home to my community and tell people about it. Ever since I came back I’ve been saying we need to get a rain barrel.”
The Schuylkill Acts & Impacts: An Expedition to Inspire Watershed Actionis a week-long program for high school students in the Schuylkill Watershed to examine and design solutions to watershed impacts. To learn more, email outreach@schuylkillheadwaters.org or call 570-573-2093.
