WKU News

Student volunteers from WKU Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies (CHNGES) and the Department of Geography and Geology participated in Streamside Educational Field Day, an outreach event for local middle-schoolers hosted by Bowling Green Public Works.

Streamside Educational Field Day is a two-day event held at Romanza Johnson Park when local water professionals gather to teach students on the opportunities and challenges of stream health and the current state of Bowling Green water resources. Partners who help host the event include Bowling Green Municipal Utilities, Lost River Cave, Kentucky Division of Wildlife, Kentucky Division of Fish and Wildlife, Warren County Office of Stormwater Management, Bowling Green Public Works, and WKU CHNGES. Approximately 300 sixth-grade students participated over the two-day period Sept. 18-19.

CHNGES students helped educate students about water and wastewater treatment, basic water chemistry and karst landscapes. CHNGES staff Caleb Koostra and graduate student James Shelley taught children about basic water testing to understand the health and vulnerabilities of Bowling Green’s karst water resources. Additionally, CHNGES students utilized the Center’s EnviroScape teaching resource to educate on how local water and wastewater is treated and this importance of this treating on maintaining the health of our local environment. Over the two-day period, multiple CHNGES graduate and undergraduate students hosted student group at the Center booth, including EB Willenbrink, James Graham, Chelsea Kipper, Jenna Hammond, Hali Steinmann, Keith Semler, Whitney Frost and Audrey Alexander.

A third fall streamside education field day was held Oct. 4. CHNGES educational materials, including a caving squeeze box, were used to get students excited about local cave and karst resources.

To learn more about Streamside Field Day, contact Bowling Green Environmental Manager Matt Powell, Matt.Powell@bgky.org. To learn more about the WKU Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies (CHNGES), contact Dr. Leslie North at leslie.north@wku.edu or (270) 745-5982. Learn more about karst landscapes and our local water resources by visiting UnderBGKY.org.

Follow CHNGES activities at @wkuchnges on Instagram and Twitter and/or @chngeswku on Facebook.

Contact: Leslie North, (270) 745-5982