GRAND ISLE — The Champlain Basin Education Initiative invites K-12 teachers throughout the Lake Champlain watershed in New York, Vermont, and Québec to submit entries for the local World Water Day event on March 21. The event will feature student water work and understanding through writing, art, photography, and videography.
Dr. Danielle Garneau, a professor and researcher at SUNY Plattsburgh will present “Plastics in Lake Champlain: How Can You Help?” as the featured speaker. The World Water Day celebration of student work will be held from 4-6:30 p.m. on March 21, at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. The event is open to the public.
Up to three entries per classroom may be submitted. Educators may check contest rules at watershedmatters.lcbp.org/contest.html. Examples of entries from previous contests are posted on the website. The deadline for submitting entries is Feb. 21. Homeschoolers and youth programs are also invited to submit entries.
“Champlain Basin Education Initiative partners host this event annually to feature the efforts of teachers and students to improve waterways and understand the pollution issues they face,” said Colleen Hickey, CBEI partner from the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Entries can be as simple as photographs about raising salmon or trout in their classroom to poems or journal entries about water, or highlighting a community project focused on water. The involvement of art, music, history, science or technology teachers allows many forms of student work to be featured.
“We realized that the CBEI partnership provides training about watershed issues for teachers, but featuring student work in a public setting helps validate and celebrate their efforts with community members,” said Hickey. Examples of awards for class participation may include boat rides, field naturalist visits to local schools, or classroom resources.
World Water Day was initiated by the United Nations in 1992 to highlight the water crisis facing so many populations around the world. For further details about participating in World Water Day event or program, contact the Lake Champlain Basin Program, 54 West Shore Road, Grand Isle, VT at 802-372-3213, 800-468-5227 or visit lcbp.org.