upward Bound Takes Silver

valley Students on environmental exploration

By Arielle Horan

Silver Valley Upward Bound’s 2013 Summer Program was an amazing opportunity for students and staff. The program offered a residential, handson experience focused on environmental science and regional watersheds.

Starting in Kellogg, students learned about their home region’s environmental impact and how the Superfund site in Smelterville continues to impact the region’s water supply.

Moving west, students stayed in Post Falls and Spokane, Wash., to further study watersheds as well as human impact on the environment. Activities included auditing the amount of waste students produced over a one-week period, assessing each student’s average consumption of water and electricity, and xeriscaping, a project in which students developed a low-water landscaping plan that featured native plant species.

After completing the summer’s academic portion, students went on to the capstone experience. SVUB teamed up with Educational Talent Search from Coeur d’Alene to bring 20 students on a trip through Washington. Students stayed overnight in a U.S. Forest Service learning center at Mount St. Helens and learned how the 1980 eruption affected local waterways and ecosystems. They also participated in a hands-on ecological assessment of the health of Coldwater Lake near Mount St. Helens.

Students then headed north to Seattle, where they had the opportunity to experience the city and tour several institutions, including the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University.

Finally, students boarded the Adventuress, a 100-yearold wooden sailing ship that is a national historic monument. On board, the crew led students and staff through a number of learning exercises about waterways, the Puget Sound and marine ecosystems. Students also took part in a citizens’ science study on microplastics in which they dredged the sound and sent in water samples to be analyzed at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

Students received college credit for participating in the environmental science course — and created wonderful memories. The joint summer program has laid a strong foundation for future collaborations, particularly the fall 2014 IATP Student Leadership Conference and the 2014 summer program, where we are collaborating with the College of Education Department of Movement Science.

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Arielle Horan is the interim director of Silver Valley Upward Bound