Grace College To Apply For Environmental Education Grant
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
WINONA LAKE - Grace College will apply for a grant that will educate local elementary students on the importance of water quality.
Grace College's Kosciusko County Recycling Lakes and Streams department will partner with Warsaw's Wastewater Treatment Utility facility, Kosciusko County Recycling Depot and Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation district in applying for the grant.Grace College will apply for the $50,000 environmental education grant through the Environmental Protection Agency that if approved will allow each organization to combine educational outreach efforts in water quality.
If approved, the grant will provide funds for water quality lesson plans that fourth-grade teachers in Warsaw Community Schools could use in their classrooms.
The funds also will be used for Grace College teacher education students to hold a field day to instruct local elementary students on water quality, according to Nate Bosch, director of Kosciusko Lakes and Streams.
The Wastewater Treatment facility, Kosciusko County Recycling Depot and Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District will be partners providing letters of commitment explaining their participation with the project.
The entities will work together educate fourth-grade students in Warsaw Community Schools on water quality.
Bosch said Grace College is in the process of applying for the grant that is due Dec. 15, and expects to hear if the college is awarded the grant next spring.
The lakes and streams program was started at the college in 2007 with the purpose of the community-centered water quality program educating the community to take care of and understand the water resources in Kosciusko County, Bosch said.
Kosciusko County Lakes and Streams has four objectives including documenting historical and social settings and trends around areas lakes, establishing a water quality database while supporting an existing water monitoring program, developing an aquatic science curriculum using the locally-generated water quality data and establishing infrastructure for sustainable management and stewardship of Kosciusko County's lakes.
