District awards Blue School Grants to 14 schools for water resource education

Creekside High School in St. Johns County participated in last year’s Blue School Grant Program. Part of the school’s Blue School curriculum included water sampling.

PALATKA, Fla., Sept. 28, 2018 — Fourteen 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. Thirty-seven teachers applied for funding this year and of them the top 14 projects were selected. The program offers a total of $20,000 in financial support to teachers working to promote water resource protection through hands-on learning opportunities.

“It’s heartening to see interest grow and the number of applications for the Blue School Grant Program continue to increase,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Dr. Ann Shortelle. “I commend these teachers for coordinating projects that will help inspire our future scientists and engineers.”

Schools receiving 2018–19 Blue School Grant funds are:

• A Philip Randolph Academies, Duval County, for a water reclamation and conservation education project
• Crescent City High School, Putnam County, for a stormwater runoff study project
• Edgewood Jr./Sr. High School, Brevard County, for an Indian River Lagoon microplastic project
• Flagler Palm Coast High School, Flagler County, for a water conservation garden project and field trip
• Interlachen High School, Putnam County, for a conversion of the concrete courtyard to a Florida-friendly garden
• Ivy Hawn Charter School of the Arts, Volusia County, for a water quality and watershed study
• Lake Minneola High School, Lake County, for a literature-based approach to learning about water scarcity
• Putnam Academy of Arts and Sciences, Putnam County, for a water usage model development project
• I. Roberts Jr./Sr. High School, Putnam County, for a freshwater resources education program
• Ridgeview High School, Clay County, for a wetland restoration and modeling lab
• Seaside Community Charter School, Beaches, Duval County, for a water quality field study project
• Silver Sands Middle School, Volusia County, for a water quality improvement field study project
• South Lake Elementary School (6^th Grade), Brevard County, for a water conservation garden project
• Vanguard High School, Marion County, for a water conservation field study project

The Blue School Grant Program, now in its third year, provides grants of up to $2,000 for a range of 6-12th grade 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.