Students in Nicaragua celebrate their new latrines!

Service Learning and Stem- Engaging Students to Learn

Wow! Can you believe that summer is almost over? For those of us that live in Minnesota, the Minnesota STATE FAIR signals the end of summer and the start of a new school year. The Fair also has the greatest selection of everything on a stick! It is not for those that are interested in "healthy" food. I must admit, that I savored the corn dog, and dabbled a little with the french fries and cheese curds. It was great! I visited the State Fair on "STEM Education" day. There were many local groups in attendance, promoting STEM based activities. There is quite a buzz around the country that is focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. (STEM) The need for students to take a good look at career fields in these areas is critical. How do we as teachers keep students interested? Studies have shown that girls and at-risk students are highly under represented in the STEM career fields. I have one suggestion. We need to provide Relevancy and Engagement. Girls in particular are easily turned off to the sciences and math- maybe because they don't see how these careers can "make a difference"- an emotional and passionate difference- in the world. At-risk students often lack role models and support to direct them to studies in STEM. We need to provide opportunities for all students to engage in relevant, meaningful activities that tie curricular lessons to the world around us. A student recently told me that in his Chemistry class, they hadn't completed one hands on experience after 6 weeks in the class! Amazing, and sad- opportunity missed. Predictions point to the fact that there will be many career opportunities available surrounding the issues of water. In our new "H2O for Life Tool Kit" we have added curricular connections for teachers to use in classrooms. As the year progresses, we hope that you will send us the great ideas that you are using in your classrooms to teach students about water. Sharing ideas and resources will help all of us provide students with a rich and meaningful educational experience. Once your students are "hooked on water", the global giving increases the passion and the relevancy. Twenty years from now, we hope they remember that they helped students around the world have access to water!



We hope you have chosen a global school partner for your school. If you haven't, it is never too late! Through-out the school year, as you are looking for that one great project for your class- we know that H2O for Life is it! Check out the Generator School Network at nylc.org, and the Semester of Service information coming soon on YSA.org. H2O for Life will be working closely with these two wonderful service-learning organizations. If you have never participated in a service learning activity, now is the time. Find out why many teachers through-out the United States are excited about Service-Learning. We can help you get started. Email us with questions, or please call and talk to one of our staff. We're here to help! Check out the list of available school partners. We need your help to bring WASH projects to schools. Can we count on you?

Traveling with the Blue Legacy Expedition

Today I have the opportunity to jump on the National Geographic Expedition bus and join Blue Legacy as they leave Minnesota to head to Colorado. The crew with Alexandra Cousteau as the Nat Geo Expedition leader, spent Saturday and Sunday in the Twin Cities interviewing water groups and attending a special tour of the Minnesota Twins Stadium. The Twins Stadium has a fabulous water saving system in place developed by Pentair. Pentair has provide a system that recycles and reuses the water once cleaned. The water is used to clean the stadium, and water the fields, cutting traditional water usage by at least 50%. Quite amazing and innovative! Our thanks to Kevin Smith of the Twins, and Todd Gleason from Pentair for leading the tour on a beautiful Saturday in July! We know how precious these Saturdays are.

Ms. Cousteau also took the time to interview several of our H2O for Life Schools. Students and teachers had an opportunity to tell her about their school projects. There were many wonderful displays.

On Saturday, July 4, H2O for Life attended an event hosted by Blue Legacy at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. We invited families to make a table top aquifer (the pdf will be available online for a fall science project) and we also provided a World Cup Toilet Bowl event where people tried to kick a soccer ball through a toilet seat. The prize? A photo seated on our PINK toilet seat! We had a few winners. It was not an easy task. Our goal was to remind people that over 2 billion people in the United States don't have access to adequate sanitation.

So.... TodayI had the chance to chat with the photographers, the vidiographers, the sound guy, the production crew and Alexandra Cousteau. They are all amazing and have wonderful stories to tell. I feel very lucky to be able to participate in this wonderful event. The crew includes people from Australia, France, Montana, Oklahoma, DC and New York- and one Minnesotan! We had a great time visiting on the bus. Actually, they all worked hard all day, while I visited!

We are parked for the evening in Kearney, Nebraska. Following a relaxing dinner, several of the crew were back at work, and others like me are on our way to bed. Tomorrow morning, we'll head to Denver where I will exit the bus while they continue to several days of filming in Boulder, CO. H2O for Life hopes to reconnect with Blue Legacy during their 135 day journey through another visit or two, and we also hope to connect some of our schools with Alexandra through Skype to conduct online video opportunities. If you wish to participate, contact m,H2O for Life and we'll work to set this up for your school. (info@h2oforlifeschools.org)
Also, remember, It is time to choose a school partner in a developing country for your next year's H2O for Life project. We hope you are having a wonderful summer.

South Africa after the fact!

Our last several days in South Africa were a whirlwind. We had a meeting with our partner organizations in South Africa, and toured with Mr. Jonathan Timm of Mvula Trust Organization. He introduced us to an informal settlement area where the need for water, sanitation and hygiene is greatly needed. We visited a Creche- a day care within the settlement area. It is very small, and often provides daycare for 100 children. The children greeted us with beautiful smiles, and all were proud of the fact that it was "Bafana, Bafana day- they had on shirts in support of the team. The vuvuzelas could be heard through-out the area. (loud horns with a buzzing sound) One latrine was available for all to use. Unimaginable! Mvula hopes to bring a pipe into the area to remove the sewage, and provide more water points for the over 15,000 people that live in the area. We hope to be able to help at the day care/pre-school by providing better WASH services. (If you want to help, your donation is greatly appreciated!)

We watched the South Africa/Mexico opening game in a huge "Fan Park" located near our hotel. There were thousands of fans in attendance, and they were very enthusiastic about their South African team. It was fun to share in the excitement of the fans through-out the game. I think most South Africans were ok with a tie, as Mexico was the favored team. The celebration continued to the wee hours of the morning and long after I went to bed the vuvuzelas were still in action. Rumor has it that FIFA is thinking of banning the horns from upcoming games. We'll have to wait to see if that happens.

South Africa is welcoming country, with a rich mixture of people and places to visit. I hope to return and spend time in the rural areas in the future.