The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin has awarded a total of $5,447 to 11 schools through the Go Outside Fund (GO Fund). The GO Fund provides funding to teachers to bring environmental education for students outside of the classroom by helping to pay for field supplies, substitute teachers, transportation or assistance from resource professionals and educators.
March 2018 Go Outside Grant Recipients
Brillion Middle School students take science outside to test water quality. Photo by Jessica Peterson.
Brillion Middle School: 8th Grade Water Action Volunteers-Stream Quality Monitoring
Lodi Primary School: Nurtured in Nature
Malcolm Shabazz City High School: Shabazz Rain Garden
Mellen School District: Trees For Tomorrow Field Trip
Mosinee Middle School: Trees For Tomorrow Field Trip
Randolph High School: Expanding the Honeybee Population
Reedsburg Area High School: Field Experiences at Hartje School Forest
Rexford Longfellow Clintonville: Green Bay Botanical gardens & Nature Connects with Lego Bricks
Sevastapol Elementary School: Trees for Tomorrow Field Trip
Sparta High School: The Forest is Calling, and We Must Go! Sparta School Forest Trips
Tamarack Waldorf School: Farm Education at Paradise Farm
Students monitor water quality
Brillion Middle School students have been contributing to statewide water quality monitoring efforts through the Water Action Volunteer Program, a vital citizen science initiative. Students have primarily been monitoring degraded water streams, like Spring Creek, but with the GO Fund grant, science teacher, Jessica Peterson, hopes to take her students to monitor a high-quality stream.
“Thanks to the funding provided through the Go Fund, the students will be able to visit and complete water testing at a high-quality stream/river,” Peterson said. In doing so, students will be able to develop a plan, to improve Spring Creek by comparing conditions to the high-quality stream.
Creating natural filtration systems
Malcolm Shabazz City High School intends to use their GO Fund grant to expand a rain garden at their school. They will be studying watershed dynamics, urban runoff and infiltration to understand ways that water quality can be improved through the creation of a rain garden as a part of Project Green Teen.
“I’m starting to look at the land differently. I see possibilities for rain gardens everywhere,” said junior Charlotte Connor.
Students will also participate in a canoeing expedition through a local watershed. The trip will conclude at a drainage ditch at the back of a local parking lot that is filled with urban runoff for students to see how pollution manifests itself.
“Some time after the storm water walk, we found a ditch about two miles from Shabazz where the water from the local watershed, that the school is in, goes to. It was pretty gross and helped to motivate students to want to do something about it,” said Aaron Kaio, a teacher at Shabazz High School.
Trees for Tomorrow
Many schools will also be sending their students to Trees for Tomorrow with the GO Fund grant. Students will participate in field studies of the forests, lakes, streams and bogs of the Northwoods while also learning about the history of Wisconsin lands. They will also actively learn about sustainable lifestyle choices and participate in a variety of activities like canoeing and hiking.
The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin would like to congratulate this round of GO Fund recipients and wish them well on their outdoor adventures.