District awards Blue School grants to 11 schools for water resource education

A Blue School Grant last year funded a water quality project studying a school’s stormwater systems. These students are pictured completing a data sheet and sampling for the study.

PALATKA, Fla., Oct. 11, 2017 — Eleven schools are receiving grant funding from the St. Johns River Water Management District’s Blue School Grant Program for projects to enhance student development in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related topics. More than two dozen teachers applied for funding this year and of them the top 11 projects were selected. The program offers $20,000 in financial support to teachers working to promote water resource protection through hands-on learning opportunities.

“Thank you to these teachers and their schools for their commitment to educating Florida’s future leaders about our water resources,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Dr. Ann Shortelle. “I commend each of these educators for supporting a legacy of water resource protection and look forward to seeing their project achievements in the months ahead.”

Schools receiving 2017–18 Blue School Grant funds are:

• Edward H. White Military Academy, Duval County, for a Shaping Watersheds Augmented Reality Sandbox project
• Galaxy Middle School, Volusia County, for a water conservation garden project
• Resilience Charter School, Alachua County, for a Santa Fe River watershed field study
• Interlachen High School, Putnam County, for water quality improvement field study
• Oakleaf High School, Clay County, for a water quality comparison of stormwater ponds and riparian zones
• Wekiva High School, Orange County, for an aquaponics project for STEM learning
• Gainesville High School, Alachua County, for a water quality monitoring project
• Creekside High School, St. Johns County, to explore water quality impacts to its watershed
• Tuskawilla Middle School, Seminole County, for water quality field study at Lake Lotus
• South Lake High School, Lake County, for a classroom and community awareness project
• Wilkinson Jr. High School, Clay County, for a water conservation garden project

The Blue School Grant Program, now in its second year, provides grants of up to $2,000 for a range of middle school and high school educational programs to enhance student knowledge of Florida’s water resources. Projects may include water quality improvement field studies, water conservation garden projects, classroom/community awareness and freshwater resources educational programs.

For more details on a particular project funded through this year’s Blue School Grant Program please reach out to the media contact listed at the top of this release. For information about Blue School grants in general, visit the district’s website at www.sjrwmd.com/education/blue-school/.