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Wallenpaupack Area School District:
Wallenpaupack Area High School, with more than 900 students, is located on the shore of Lake Wallenpaupack, one of Pennsylvania's largest lakes. The focal point of this area's economic life is the lake with its related resort and vacation enterprises. The first step of ensuring the community's future is the education of residents to protect the lake's watershed. To get students interested in the complex ecology of Lake Wallenpaupack and its watershed, the high school developed a watershed education program that stresses field work and hands-on educational activities. The program is the product of a business-education partnership among Wallenpaupack Area School District, the Lake Wallenpaupack office of Pennsylvania Power and Light Co., the Lake Wallenpaupack Watershed Management District and F.X. Browne Inc., an environmental engineering firm. The program is a seven-day science curriculum with a three-day out-of-school field trip. The students are divided into small groups to study the construction of Lake Wallenpaupack and hydroelectric power generation, watershed management practices, lake biology, data analysis, stream and wetland biology and water and wastewater treatment. Three days are completed in biology classes to prepare logistics, learn basic ecology and be debriefed on the hands-on sessions. At the end of the seven days, students have the option of completing a final project on the watershed. A similar course is available for adults during summer evenings, and there is also a course for teachers outside of the district who are interested in learning about the program. An activity binder was developed especially for their watershed by Wallenpaupack Area High School biology teachers, the environmental engineers of F.X. Browne Inc., the graphic artists and professional editors of PP&L and the high school's tenth grade students. The major benefits are increased student and community awareness of watershed protection and a focus on pollution prevention at its source. Information about the program has been distributed to six other school districts.
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Wallenpaupack Area
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