What a Great Day!

On May 24, after a two-year hiatus, Itasca Waters, ISD 318, and Itasca Area Community Education partnered to organize the 9th annual 5th Grade Youth Water Summit at the Fairgrounds.  

Over 350 students from ISD 318 Grand Rapids and Bigfork, ISD 316 Greenway, and St. Joseph's schools participated in some of the 46 presentations (aligned with Minnesota Standards in Science Education) from federal, state, and local agencies and municipalities, teachers, community members and organizations.  Each learning station gave students an opportunity to learn about the importance of water and the vital role it has in our lives. Learning goals for the event covered the chemistry of water and related systems, quantity and quality issues, water safety, and environmental awareness, hands-on lessons, how to be a good steward for water, and applying critical thinking and problem-solving skills to water challenges.

Those of us lucky to volunteer at the event had a chance to visit some of sessions presented at stations scattered around the Fairgrounds. Subjects included planting rain gardens, invasive species, aquatic invertebrates, making rain clouds, kayaking, the water cycle, using a secchi disk and testing water clarity, a rainfall simulator, septic systems, what is in our soils, getting the lead out, water art, native species, camping in the BWCA, tasting water, and much more. You can get a glimpse of the summit on youtube.

One big hit at the summit was a chance for kids to get "flushed" through a septic system (photo below) while they learned how a system processes (or does not process) everything that is flushed.