Reminder: District’s Blue School Grant Program Deadline Sept. 10

Students seining at a shore

Students from Crescent City Jr./Sr. High School get their feet wet while learning about the lakes of their area.

Students seining at a shore

Students from Crescent City Jr./Sr. High School get their feet wet while learning about the lakes of their area.

PALATKA, Fla., August 31, 2021 —The deadline is fast approaching for teachers planning to apply for this year’s round of Blue School Grant Funding. Now entering the sixth year of this water education grant program, the St. Johns River Water Management District anticipates offering up to $20,000 in grants for projects that enrich student knowledge of Florida’s water resources through hands-on learning. The application deadline is Sept. 10.

The District has funded 61 water resource education projects in the last five funding cycles.

Through the District’s Blue School Grant Program, up to $2,000 per school may be awarded to middle and high schoolteachers to enhance student knowledge of Florida’s water resources. Public and charter schoolteachers within the District’s boundaries are eligible to apply. Each school within the District is eligible to receive funding once per academic year.

Grants may be awarded in three areas: freshwater resources field study, water conserving landscape projects or water conservation community/school awareness campaigns.

Examples of previous successful grant applications include:

  • Service-learning projects where middle and high school students partnered to study water quality
  • Creation of native landscape garden with educational signage
  • Water quality comparison of stormwater ponds on campus
  • Conversion of traditional irrigation to micro-irrigation in school landscape
  • Water conservation awareness posters and video

Teachers receiving grants will be notified in early October.

Information about criteria and deadlines and the online application can be found at www.sjrwmd.com/education/blueschool.

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