ERIE STUDENT SUMMIT PRESENTATIONS
Jeff Newcamp, Student Delegation, Erie Pennsylvania
The Erie Student Summit came as a result, sort of like a dream, from Sister Pat Lupo, OSB of the Glinodo center, Kathy Horan and Sister Marguerita Dangle, OSB, also from the Glinodo Center. They, along with the help of many others and their encouragement, developed the 1997 Erie Student Summit. They received a grant to perform a pilot project. The grant came from Coastal Zone Management and the Heinz Endowment Fund. It entailed 13 schools and a community- based organization. A weekend long workshop was help at the Glinodo Center, northwestern Pennsylvania for all the students to attend with their sponsoring teacher. At the workshop, the students were taught about their watershed, its problems and possible solutions to these problems. Field trips were taken to the Erie area landfill, water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant, along with several other sites of interest. The students saw what was occurring right in their own backyards. Eager to see what they could do in their community the students broke into nine teams, generally based on the school they attended.
Over a month and a half later, the students had grown in many areas and aspects. They had gone to the workshop over the summer with uncertainty of their power. Yet they came to the student summit presentations in early October, with determination. All the participants of the Students Summit worked and toiled with their group action plans and wanted their conclusions to be heard by the public. They discovered what they as highschool students could do in their own communities. The presentations were made with several local political leaders present. Certainly the students educated the public on the topics at hand, but they also taught themselves. Each of you out there today knows that when it comes to awareness, especially today's youth are important.
Furthermore, after the student summit, six students were chosen for their superior effort and dedication to the Erie Student Summit Projects. Those six students were selected to travel to the International Joint Commission, speak to you as a culmination of the Student's Summit. And here they are in front of you today.
If nothing else, we wish that you noted the time and exertion all the Student Summit participants have put into their projects and that you lend an ear to what we as tomorrow's future, have to say.
Andy Banducci, Representative #2
Each of the students representing the Lake Erie and French Creek watersheds was part of a group that did a project relating to their watershed. As part of these projects, the students were required to write a paper entitled, "Our Vision of the Great Lakes." There were nine different projects and there were nine different visions. What we tried to do for this forum was to take the most insightful parts of each essay and compile them into a larger more comprehensive essay. So here's our collective vision of the Great Lakes.
In the future there are two possible solutions that the Great Lakes might fall under. One is positive. It includes the overall use of alternative energy, sources such as geothermal energy, solar energy, wind energy as well as hydro-electric power; more state and federal regulations concerning industrial pollution and a good water quality, thus plentiful vegetation and animal life.
Our other vision is negative. Although we prefer not to think about it, if we don't press our governmental leaders and educate the public than the following situations could become reality. There would be a business as usual attitude among our governments; there would be a possible loss of vegetation resulting in a lack of biodiversity; industry would continually and/or deliberately ignore whatever pitiful attempt at regulation that the governments might initiate. [Applause] And both point and nonpoint sources of pollution, either by industry or the private sector would thus be rampant. This would ultimately result in systematic destruction of our watershed. Recovering from a disaster of this magnitude, would be nearly impossible to accomplish.
Katie Bloeser, Representative #3
Hello, I'm Katie Bloeser. The Student Summit consisted of 10 schools that were involved in 9 action projects, from Lake Erie and the French Creek watersheds. Cathedral Prep and Cathedral Center, Baywatch a Study of Water; Seneca, Recycling into Tomorrow; Meadville, Searching for AOCs; Millcreek, A Study of the Erosion in the Walnut Creek Watershed; Neighborhood. Our house, Nature Trail interconnects with Neighborhood Art House; Montessori, Spread the Word; St. Gregs, 16 Mile Creek Environmental Project; Vincent, Pollution Solutions, Getting to the Point of Nonpoint Sources; Villa Maria Academy, Is VMA Environmentally Friendly to Lake Erie Watershed?
Hello, my name is Mai Phan. The nine projects presented at the Erie Student Summit may be nine different projects but our goals and objectives were the same. Each team participated in the August workshop to understand what a watershed was, in order for us to choose our projects. Much research was put into the projects to get youths and schools involved, to investigate the health of our watersheds and to promote environmentally-conscious, economic development. With the help of media coverage of the Student Summit itself, we were successful in alerting our community that what we do to our watershed has an effect. And we need to put into the environment what was taken out. Although each projects' goals and objectives were similar, the projects themselves were quite unique. For example, the Neighborhood Art House, a community-based organization for intercity kids came up with a plan to create a nature trail with organic materials to help the children at the Art House learn about the environment. In addition, the Art House kids will also learn about recycling and the purpose of the Art House itself.
The Walnut Creek area team observed that because of soil erosion their creek became very shallow due to the sun's penetration, raising the water temperature so much that the oxygen decreased, killing their game fish. Thus, they selected an area of the streambank that was eroded, to plant willow seedlings in order to monitor the seedlings growth and their effect on erosion. St. Gregs found at the end of their 16 Mile Creek, a borough sewage polishing plant. With much testing they hope to pinpoint the source of their pollution and to reduce it. One instrument they used was a petition which was circulated out into their community. Also they are in the process of meeting with their northeast town council to discuss the issue.
Seneca High School's project was to motivate their school to recycle aluminum, steel, plastic, glass and paper. They plan to have a kick-off assembly with a motivational speaker, and in each classroom, a paper collection box, and in the cafeteria, recycling bins. In order to educate the importance of recycling, they are developing a recycling education curriculum for K through 12. Hopefully with the success at the school level, they will work with the Green Township directors to motivate their community and beyond.
Our Presque Isle Bay is in need of cleanup due to pollution. With collaborative efforts from Cathedral Prep and Cathedral Center, Presque Isle Bay's water quality was studied, in order to inform the public as to its swimability. They performed chemical tests and analyzed the bay water to fresh catch rainwater and to runoff water of nearby homes.
The Montessori children's aim was to spread the word about cleaning up the Lake Erie watershed, about its condition and how to conserve it. Phone calls were made to parents to encourage them to recycle and to watch what they were throwing down the drains. In addition, to encouraging the adults, the Montessori children are performing skits to encourage the younger generation to protect the environment in our watersheds.
The French Creek watershed was monitored for hotspots and Areas of Concern. The team performed biological testings of the water and found that the creek was healthy. In addition, the team found from research the French Creek is recognized as the most significant natural resource in Pennsylvania and North America because of the variety of plant and animal life it hosts. So it is important to monitor and regulate the present and future French Creek.
Villa Maria Academy found their project right in their own backyard. Their soccer field had not been in use because of the collection of rainwater on the field that did not drain into a ditch. From observation, the team observed cleaning the ditch of debris would allow rainwater from the field to flow into the ditch. The team is now in the process of identifying solutions to the drainage problem.
Strong Vincent High School's aim was to excite our younger generation about cleaning up our watershed and to educate them about nonpoint source pollution. Thus the team developed an activity booklet. The 60 students who participated achieved their ultimate goals of becoming involved in monitoring the quality of their respective watersheds and in making the public aware of the need for all people to do likewise.
Dan Connolly, Representative #5
Issues Concerning Lake Erie and French Creek Watersheds. Probably the most important issue facing our watersheds is making the public aware of the different hazards that are threatening them. The public and the media's attention must be brought to the quality of water in each of these watersheds, which incidentally are separated by a land ridge. The French Creek watershed has a high quality of water and is rich in biological diversity. More types of fishes and molluscs are found there than any stream in the state of Pennsylvania. The stream contains over 70 species of fish and 25 species of molluscs, several of which are endangered in both the state of Pennsylvania and the United States. It is recognized as a significant natural resource and for this reason is important to monitor the creek and keep the public informed of its healthy state, to prevent pollution and other hazards from penetrating it.
The Lake Erie watershed has been threatened over the years by such hazards like solid waste pollution, nonpoint and point discharges and bank erosion. To prevent these contingencies from occurring even further, it is important that the community get involved in keeping Lake Erie in its best condition as possible. The public must realize that they are the largest beneficiaries of the Great Lakes and if they want constant water supply, or water recreational sports in the future, they must learn firsthand how to help Lake Erie. In order to implement this awareness to the public, education of these environmental problems, as well as of everyone's actions, effects and consequences must be presented to the youth.
Recycling is yet another issue facing our watersheds. The public must realize that everything they do affects the world around them. In conclusion, there must be a call-to-action that includes these issues and work toward a goal of preventing any further environmental hazards from permeating into our watersheds. We must remind ourselves that even though separately it may not seem we make a difference, but as a collaborative effort, great results will transpire.
Erin Ferguson, Representative #6
Everything that we do whether it is large or small, affects others in some way. Much like ripples in a pond, our actions have a strong impact. On October 8th, the youth of Pennsylvania set out to make an impact on our surroundings. For weeks we had been working on projects and now we would be showing everyone what we had done. Our projects had many impacts. Not only on the Lake Erie watershed but on ourselves, community and leaders. We are all amazed that young people could make such a difference in just a few short weeks. Many of the groups involved had not only gotten their families involved, but the community as well. We gained the respect of our peers, school administrators, government officials and our community. Many people also had to face and conquer their fear of public speaking in order to take part in this project.
Although this project has impacted just about everyone in different ways, I feel that this project has most affected our instructors at the Student Summit because this program is first of hopefully many more to come. The Student Summit took two years in the making. Grants had to be written, committees had to be formed and teams of leaders had to be chosen. All this for a two day program. On a personal note, our instructors believe that anyone can make a difference if they have the desire to do so. They also think as many of us do, that the program has been very satisfying, exciting and rewarding.
Years ago people believed that Lake Erie was dead. Pollution reeked the lake, fish were scarce and people just didn't seem to care. Most people don't even know that the pollution of Lake Erie could affect them all. But that was then and this is the present. Through many programs, much like the Lake Erie Student Summit, the community is starting to become more aware of their surroundings. Nowadays, Lake Erie has been brought back to life through programs and community outreaches. The Student Summit has brought on even more political pressure to not only better fund more programs such as ours, but to hear the youth of America and realize that they also want to take part in helping the earth.
As the students of the northwestern Pennsylvania Student Summit, encompassing both the Lake Erie and French Creek watersheds, we realize that we will not be able to objectively assess our work until long after this summit. One of the main focuses of our projects was public awareness. By alerting the public we felt we succeeded in getting the word out about the water quality of Lake Erie. As part of our self-assessment, we realized several things about ourselves, as individuals had changed. First of all, our problem-solving skills improved. We learned how to identify possible solutions. We gained respect from our peers. We can use team projects and take those on a step further to accomplish more independent study. We learned that sometimes, we have to change our immediate goals, if there's a time constraint. We affected adults to such an extent that they felt that they grew also. And perhaps most importantly, we enhanced our skills when working within a group.
In assessing the summit as a whole, we felt that we successfully accomplished the following things: After learning about our respective watersheds, we successfully involved the media to make the public aware of watershed issues; we successfully used technology to create multimedia presentations using Microsoft Power Point for each one of the nine projects; and our immediate goals were accomplished, although we realize that the overall success of the Student Summit has yet to be determined.
Throughout the Student Summit the nine groups focused on their action plans. Most of the plans involved some type of communication to the general public, in order to encourage environmentally safe practices. In order to spread their messages to the public of northwestern Pennsylvania the students utilized the media to its fullest extent. Three types of communication were involved with the Erie Student Summit. Those were as follows: printed, telecommunications and by word-of-mouth. For printed awareness, the Erie Student Summit participants appeared in the local newspaper and several other fine publications on many occasions. Topics of the articles varied, yet projected the same message about the actions plans.
In the telecommunication category, the students managed to appear on the three local television stations several times over. News crews were present at the Student Summer Workshop in August, group testing sites and even at the Student Summit presentations in early October.
The final division of awareness was word of mouth. Several of the Student Summit groups used this form to spread their message. They did this with the use of telephones, group assemblies or meetings, pamphlets and letters. The local politicians showed their support by coming to learn about the action plans, projects and visions the students had of the future, at the Student Summit on October 8th. They expressed their concerns for the Great Lakes water quality, especially that of Lake Erie. The students involved in the summit were able to personally meet these community leaders and share their special concerns for the area.
Other political leaders were contacted by mail. All of these fine accomplishments of the students in the Erie Student Summit helped them to learn about their watershed and their environment, their views on it as well as others, and what they can do to protect their environment. Without public awareness many of the projects could not have been completed as well as they were.
In conclusion we would like to say that it is an honor to be given a forum to voice our concerns and our visions for the future. We would like to leave you with a few recommendations for the future of the Great Lakes watershed. Implement the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, continually get individual groups more aware, focus on groups to get them involved in their watersheds, continue to monitor water quality, encourage zero discharge of persistent toxic pollutants, awareness of nonpoint sources of pollution and sprawl, support grassroot groups throughout the basin, encourage governments to require an environmentalist on building projects, continuous education of the public on watershed issues, encourage doctors to keep records and statistics in order to show linkage between health and the Great Lakes environment, establish a deterrent system to encourage water quality; industries will be more accountable if the states demand it. And again, we would just like to say, "Thanks for listening."
Chairman Baldini
How do you follow that. Well, you follow it with another group of students. And we have also today with us, Tina Preston. Tina is down here. She also has a group of students from Buffalo. Tina, let me turn that over to you.