PONOKA, Alta. — The Battle River runs past their school, but it wasn’t until students at St. Augustine school entered a competition to save their watersheds that they understood its importance to the area.
Daniella Perillat, a teacher at the school, believed the students lacked a good understanding of the importance of watersheds so she came up with a competition for her Grade 8 and 11 science classes.
“When I first started they thought (a watershed) had to be something directly related to water,” said Perillat.
The Caring for our Watersheds program encourages creativity and rewards students for the solutions.
Read Also
Volunteers help exotic animal farm rebuild
Exotic animal farm loses beloved camel and pony to huge hail storm that gripped the Brooks, Alta. area as a community member starts a fundraiser to help the family recover from the financial and emotional damage.
The central Alberta program began in 2007 focussing on the Battle River watershed. In 2010, similar programs were launched in southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Perillat believed a combination of classroom work and a financial incentive offered under the competition would help motivate students.
In the past three years, students have embraced the idea of saving watersheds and the environment and have won $13,000 for themselves and another $13,000 for the school through the competition.
Perillat said the money won for the school been used for IPads, field trips and buzzers for a Reach for the Top school program.
Perillat was the catalyst, but the students came up with their own ideas for the contest and prepared proposals to submit to the competition, which was another skill learned through the contest.
“To do a research proposal opens so many doors. They learn how it’s done and it’s a skill they’ll use at university and college,” said Perillat.
Rachel Selke, now a Grade 12 student, and two other partners developed a children’s activity book, Discover your Watershed.
The project won and the group received extra money to publish the book.
Selke and her partners researched information for the book, chose artwork and designed a colouring page within the book used for a contest.
Selke then took the book into the elementary school classrooms to discuss the importance of watersheds.
“When I started, I didn’t know what a watershed was so I thought (the elementary school students) wouldn’t know either,” said Selke.
Through the contest, students are invited to answer the question: What can you do to improve your watershed?
Natalie Stanley, education co-ordinator with the Battle River Watershed Alliance, said she encourages students to think of things that affect their lives and develop solutions.
“It could be anything in that watershed and come up with ideas to help improve it,” she said.
Another group of St. Augustine students, Kaitlin Lomas, Melissa Gartner and sisters Vickie and Katie Wyering, won first place for their book The Mystery of the Missing Water. In the book, Otis, a duck, and his friends search for why the pond is drying up.
Otis finds people in the nearby village are using lots of water. Together, they vow to use less water so people and animals can live together.
“The book was a fun way to learn about watersheds and present it in a way everyone could understand,” said Katie Wyering.
Since writing the book, the girls have said they’ve tried to take shorter showers, recycle more and are more aware of the impact they have on the environment.
“I am quite proud of those kids,” said Perillat.
Rhyliegh Patterson and Courtney Bolze used their winnings to plant trees along the Battle River.
“We wanted to think of something we could do to help our river,” said Patterson.
