The Splash! school grant program provides teachers with funding to enhance student knowledge of freshwater resources issues.

This is the eighteenth year that the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) has offered Splash! school grants. This school year we are funding 157 projects throughout the SWFWMD, educating an estimated 80,000 students.

The five categories in the Splash! school grant program are based on priority issues in the SWFWMD’s watersheds. They are water conservation, water quality, watersheds, flood protection and natural systems.

Splash! school grants offer up to $3,000 per school on a reimbursement basis only and are available to public, private and homeschool teachers, grades pre-K through 12. Teachers may apply individually or as a group.

Past school grant projects include student monitoring of local water quality, field trips and outreach campaigns designed to encourage water conservation. Check out the Featured Grant Projects section for additional ideas.

In brief, projects:

1. Fall under one or more of the following categories: water conservation, water quality, watersheds, flood protection or natural systems.
2. Offer students the opportunity to learn more about freshwater resources and turn their understanding into action.
3. Support the SWFWMD’s vision of a stable, ample supply of clean water for all appropriate users, including the environment.
4. Include STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities. STEM-related teaching strategies that actively engage students in the learning process through water resource investigations receive preference.
5. Relate to Next Generation Sunshine State Standards and Common Core State Standards.
6. Describe measurable objectives that can be easily evaluated.
7. Involve a message and/or lesson that can be shared with the greater school community or neighborhood.