Protecting Our Water Award

From 2010 to 2018, the Schuylkill Action Network awarded schools in the Schuylkill Watershed that help protect sources of drinking water - that is the creeks, streams, and rivers where we get our water from. Nominations opened from March-April and schools were awarded in May during National Drinking Water Week.

2018 Awardees: Governor Mifflin School District

• Brecknock Elementary
• Cumru Elementary
• Mifflin Park Elementary
• Governor Mifflin Intermediate School
• Governor Mifflin Middle School
• Governor Mifflin High School

2017 Awardees:

• The Miquon School: The Miquon School raised funds to implement a stream restoration project to alter the grade of the streambank, construct a series of riffles and pools, and create shallow aquatic beds that help lessen erosion during big storms. Teachers and students observed changes in the creek, conducted macroinvertebrate leaf pack studies before and after the restoration work, and created an artistic 1/6^th scale model of the bank slopes. Partners in this project included Biohabitats, Aquatic Resource Restoration and Refugia to implement the restoration. Funding was provided by PA DEP’s Growing Greener program.
• Schuylkill Haven Area High School: The Montgomery School has integrated Water and Watershed Stewardship into their curriculum for the past eight years. This includes learning about water quality and monitoring the Pickering Creek. Additionally, they conducted home water audits to understand how their personal habits affect water consumption. Students raise Brook Trout in the classroom which they release in the stream. The students reuse water from rain barrels and plant trees along the creek to restore riparian buffers.
• The Montgomery School: Schuylkill Haven Area High School participated in a number of water protection activities. The Biology Club participates in the fall and spring Schuylkill Keep It Pretty (SKIP) cleanups, which is part of the Schuylkill Scrub. They also planted trees along the school property and included watershed education in their curriculum. They toured the Silver Creek Abandoned Mine Drainage Treatment System, a project completed by the Schuylkill Headwaters Association.

 

2016 Awardees:

• Perkiomen Valley High School: 8 members of the school's Key Club formed a subcommittee to help plan and install a rain garden, led by Montgomery County Conservaiton District and Perkiomen Township. The rain garden is located at the Township building, which is across the street from the school, and will be used for an outdoor classroom. 
• Phoenixville Area High School: About 16-20 students from the Envirothon and Environmental Awareness Club (EAC) worked with the Green Valleys Watershed Association to install a 860 square foot bioswale on the campus. The project provided a service opportunity for the students and a continued environmental education resource for the school. 
• Green Woods Charter School: The entire 4th grade class has integrated watershed education into each of their subjects. The 4th grade class has participated in 5 field trips to Lower Merion Conservancy to conduct stream studies. Students are also raising and releasing trout through the Trout in the Classroom program. Additionally, Green Woods Charter School has participated in storm drain marking with Philadelphia Water. 

 

2015 Awardees:

• Science Leadership Academy at Beeber: About 16 students worked with the Philadelphia Water Department to build and install environmental sensor kits (“root kits”) in the campus' rain garden to monitor soil moisture and temperature. They also made these kits for three elementary schools. Read more about their project on their blog.
• Reading Area Community College: About 20 students in the school’s environmental club, Operation Green, held a public rain barrel workshop and will conduct two more rain barrel workshops. About 50 participants attended the first workshop. Outreach for the workshops were conducted through mailings in Reading Area Water Authority's water bills, press releases, and social media. The students partnered with Reading Environmental Advisory Council, Berks County Conservation District, and the Reading Area Water Authority to conduct these workshops. 
• Blue Mountain Middle School: About 240 eighth grade students retrofitted a basin into a rain garden, planted trees, and retrofitted a swale into three separate rain gardens. Additionally, the students participated in environmental education, such as learning about soil biology, participating in a forestry walk, hanging blue bird boxes, and learning about wildlife. The school partnered with the Orwigsburg Borough, the Orwigsburg Lions Club, Schuylkill County Conservation District, and theSchuylkill Headwaters Association and received funding through the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund. 

 

2014 Awardees:

• Cooke Wissahickon: Installed a meadow as part of a Schuylkill Action Students project.
• The Montessori School: Installed a rain garden and participates in an environmental education curriculum.
• Robeson Elementary School: Naturalized a basin as part of a Schuylkill Action Students project.

 

2012 Awardees:

• Sandy Run Middle School
• Spring-Ford Intermediate School
• Limerick Elementary School
• Cabrini College

 

2010 Awardees:

• Worcester Elementary School
• Albert M. Greenfield School
• Perkiomen Valley High School
• Philadelphia University School of Science and Health