Eighteen Polk County teachers are among the record number of educators who applied for and received Splash! mini-grants through the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
This year the District awarded Splash! mini-grants to 209 educators totaling more than $413,000. That’s 72 more grant recipients than last year.
Mary Margaret Hull, lead communications coordinator, attributes the increase in awardees to an increase in promotion among the District’s school board contacts and classroom teachers, as well as decreases in school budgets.
“These teachers are receiving a small amount of money but are able to accomplish so much,” said Hull. “Mini-grant recipients also utilize the District’s great collection of curriculum materials as well as learn about other opportunities, including teacher training and District-funded field trips in their region.”
The Polk County awardees include:
- Jessica Fredricks,Bethune Academy, will receive $5,000. Students will create a school-wide water conservation pledge, write and record water-related songs, read water-related books, perform a conservation puppet show, create a conservation calendar and have representatives from The Florida Aquarium and Lowry Park Zoo come to speak on campus.
- Melanie Tucker,Daniel Jenkins Academy, will receive $4,507.50. Students will create a water-conserving garden on campus and document the experience in personal journals.
- Kathi Decker,Eagle Lake Elementary School, will receive $5,000. Students will study water-related videos and books and create art projects documenting what they have learned. They will also take field trips to the Winter Haven Water Treatment Plant, Lake Howard Nature Park, Explorations V Children’s Museum, Mulberry Phosphate Museum, Circle B Bar Reserve and Cypress Gardens. Representatives from The Florida Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and Lowry Park Zoo will visit the school, and the project will culminate with a water festival.
- Patty Whidden,Frostproof Middle-Senior High School, will receive $4,722.53. Students will document water use and create water-related posters. They will also take a field trip to Circle B Bar Reserve to observe natural systems and perform water quality tests.
- Bruce Sabin,Haines City High School, will receive $1,960. Students will plant and maintain a water-conserving garden on campus. They will monitor weather patterns, water use, soil quality and natural systems.
- Hillary Hendrix,Inwood Elementary School, will receive $3,324. Students will create a Florida-friendly garden on campus, travel to local water bodies to perform water quality tests, participate in an outreach program by The Florida Aquarium and perform water-related classroom experiments. They will also engage in activities from the District’s Water Conservation Kit and K-3 Watershed Resources Box.
- Amanda Knight,Lake Wales High School, will receive $5,000. Students will take a field trip to the Everglades and create a project to document the experience.
- Angela Munoz,Lakeland High School, will receive $4,993.55. Students will take field trips to Lake Hollingsworth and Florida Southern College to perform water quality tests and study channeled apple snails. They will develop a census for the number of snails in Lake Hollingsworth and create a laboratory experiment to test the snails’ rate of consumption and its effects on water quality.
- Ricky Slaughter,Lena Vista Elementary School, will receive $510. Students will participate in two off-site programs through The Florida Aquarium and create projects documenting what they have learned.
- Dennis Dill,McKeel Academy, will receive $2,509.08. Students will utilize water-related software programs and take trips to local lakes to perform water quality tests. They will document their findings through class projects.
- Melissa Kelly,Polk Avenue Elementary School, will receive $4,650. Students in grades kindergarten through fifth will take field trips to The Florida Aquarium, Explorations V Children’s Museum, Lowry Park Zoo, MOSI, AgriFest and Mote Marine Laboratory. The project will culminate in an Environmental Day Water Festival, which will include demonstrations by environmental agency representatives and various water-related activities. Teachers will also attend the Florida Association of Science Teachers Conference.
- Debra Porter,Southwest Middle School, will receive $4,139.01. Students will read water-related books, travel to a local lake for a cleanup and perform water quality tests. They will also conduct classroom experiments, decorate rain barrels and create projects documenting their studies. In addition, they will participate in the “Zoo Ventures” program through Lowry Park Zoo.
- June Stewart,All Saints’ Academy, will receive $840. Students will study springs, ground water and ecosystems. They will take a field trip to Crystal Springs Preserve and create projects on water-related topics to present to the school.
- Denny Zahrt,Homeschool Cooperative Educating in Central Florida, Inc., will receive $3,747.31. Students will read water-related books, perform a series of water quality tests on local water bodies and maintain a freshwater classroom ecosystem. They will also work with their families on water use surveys.
- Sean Reilly,Ridge Christian Academy, will receive $743.16. Students will perform monthly water quality tests on local lakes and develop ways to conserve and maintain freshwater resources. They will read water-related books and perform classroom experiments. Students will also engage in activities from the District’s K-3 Watershed Resources Box and Water Conservation Kit.
- Carol Haas,St. Joseph Catholic School, will receive $2,546.35. Students will use a groundwater-flow table to simulate many “real world” groundwater concepts involving aquifers, sinkholes, caverns, geysers, and hot springs. The students will trace underground water patterns using colored dye.
- Lori Bradner,St. Joseph Catholic School, will receive $4,005. Students will “adopt” a local pond and study and monitor it throughout the school year. They will perform water quality tests, plant aquatic vegetation, and document their experiences through classroom projects. They will also engage in activities from the District’s Watershed Education Resources Box.
- Scott Nelson,St. Paul Lutheran School, will receive $4,115.90. Students will read water-related books, perform water and soil tests on campus retention ponds, plant aquatic vegetation in the retention ponds, and perform classroom experiments. They will also take a field trip to Nature’s Classroom.
Last year 17 mini-grants were awarded in Polk County.
The goal of the mini-grant program is to promote hands-on water resources education that teaches students about their local watersheds and the water resources within them. Splash! mini-grants provide up to $5,000 per school on a reimbursement basis only and are available to public, private and home school teachers.
Past mini-grant projects include water quality monitoring of local lakes and rivers, the development of water-conserving gardens on school properties, and outreach campaigns designed to promote awareness of water-conserving practices.
In addition to mini-grant funding, the District offers educators free teacher training workshops, speakers for classroom presentations and free educational materials. The publications are correlated to Florida’s Sunshine State Standards and can also be ordered on the District’s web site at www.WaterMatters.org/publications/.