Environmental Progress - Summer 1999

Youth and the Environment

Agency Kids' Program Takes to the Road

Springfield school "field tests" new environmental education efforts

In late April, Springfield Iles elementary school opened its auditorium doors to 10 Illinois EPA volunteers for a two day run-through of six recently developed interactive environmental education programs.

Learning's fun when it's hands-on!

During each of the two days, 130 sixth graders spent two hours taking part in activities that focused on water conservation, preventing air pollution, recycling, and finding less toxic alternatives to common household products. In all, 260 pupils participated.

Six new student participation efforts were recently developed as part of the Agency's education activities that seek to increase youngsters' environmental awareness. Due to time limitations, only five of the six were presented each day at the Iles school unveiling, but each was presented to students at least once during the two days. Feedback from teachers on the different programs will be incorporated into fine-tuning the instructional materials.

10 Junior GEC Interns Found Work Was Play

Hauling water or hunting worms, interns made environmental education fun.

For 10 lucky interns, last summer provided some fun outside the office as well as the opportunity to be "kids" again. During their internship with the IEPA, these students visited nine Girl Scout camps, 4-H summer camps, YMCA day camps, and Lincoln Memorial Garden's Ecology camps in Springfield and Jacksonville. Campers ranged from 6 to 11 years old.

For each camp, a pair of "Jr. GEC" interns was assigned a specific program to present to a group of children for 20 to 25 minutes. Campers moved from station to station and joined together for closing activities. The Jr. GECs presented a wide variety of environmental information in the form of games and hands-on learning, including such activities as "Household Hazardous Waste Bingo" and "Macro-invertebrateMayhem/ Water Critters." "Close the Loop" featured a matching game where children paired recyclable materials with the products and items that can be made from them. Camper favorites included "Vermicomposting" where worm-hunting and worm-inspecting took place, and "The Long Haul" in which campers toted a total of 10 gallons using only plastic cups. Camps closed with two activities, a man-made thunderstorm, and the intense and competitive game of "Environmental Jeopardy" where campers had the chance to test their environmental knowledge.

Camps were also a learning experience for the Jr. GECs. After spending more than three hours at a time with campers and having lunch with them at some camps, most interns learned something about children or about themselves, as well as about the information they presented. Whether they learned they had a knack for working with children, or found their futures probably lie in other areas, the interns all took away something new from these camp experiences.

(By Rachel Vigar and Christine Johnson, Jr. GEC interns.)

Lincoln Trail Cleanup

A total 1,358 Scouts and their leaders collected 220 pounds of trash and 73 pounds of recyclable aluminum during the Lincoln Trail Hike between Lincoln's New Salem state park and Springfield in April. For the fifth year, the Illinois EPA manned rest stops, collected the picked up litter and distributed refreshments and new litter bags to the hikers.