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Sound Rivers Program Director Clay Barber and Stormwater Education Coordinator Sierra Stickney (and Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps member) brought stormwater education the people instrumental in making it happen: educators.

On Wednesday, Clay and Sierra met with West Craven Middle School teachers to talk about how Sound Rivers Campus Stormwater Program projects can be an educational resource for middle schoolers. Organized by WCMS science teacher Joshua McGhee, Clay introduced the gathered educators, first, to Sound Rivers.

“There were a lot of teachers there that didn’t know about Sound Rivers,” Clay said. “But they’re getting invested now, because we’ve invested in their school.”

Sierra made a presentation about stormwater projects at the school, talked about how they could be potentially incorporated into class activities, then asked teachers for their ideas about how to engage students in the ultimate goal of stormwater infrastructure: water quality.

“It was a really good meeting. It did two things: build on our relationship with the school —where we met new people like the art teacher, the new AG teacher — and gave us the opportunity to pick their brains about what they already teach about science, water quality and nature and what they would need to make stormwater a part of kids’ education, without putting a greater burden on them.”

Clay said a great example of the brainstorming was taking advantage of the school’s Career Technical Education program, in which students could potentially build rain barrels, while students in art classes could paint them. Others were how math teachers could incorporate calculating rooftop stormwater runoff into classes and science teachers using the projects on campus to educate students about stormwater: how the infrastructure works, where runoff goes, and more.

“We want the staff and the students to participate in all these things,” Clay said.

Sierra’s plan is to launch the education program with a stormwater tour for students, possible in December.

There will be ample opportunities for stormwater education at this particular middle school, as, in addition to existing rain gardens, Sound Rivers’ Campus Stormwater Program is behind two new projects being installed in the coming months: a rainwater harvesting system and a regenerative stormwater conveyance system, the two projects an investment of nearly $300,000 in the campus’ stormwater infrastructure.

Funding for the projects comes from the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, and local grant organizations.

Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps is a service program of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, funded by a grant through the North Carolina Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism.

Like the stormwater work Sound Rivers is doing on campuses across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds? So do we! Donate to support the Campus Stormwater Program today!