High School Education Program: River KATS: Kid Activism Together with Science

*DONATIONS CURRENTLY BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE 2010-2011 TERM!*

Inland Empire Waterkeeper would like to thank 3M for providing us with a grant of $5,000 to fund field trips with Corona/Norco high schools during the 2010-2011 school year! This generous grant will help us continue this valuable, free educational program for our local high school students.

Our education program is mostly funded through donations.  Please consider donating to help our children learn and experience their watershed! Each trip costs $600 on average, or roughly $20 per student for a class of 30.

For the 2009-2010 school year we have the following nine trips scheduled:
Patriot High - Wastewater treatment plant / habitat demo garden in Chino
Ramona High - Prado Wetlands (planting/weeding/birding/water testing)
Norco High - Prado Wetlands (planting/weeding/birding/water testing)
Centennial High - Prado Wetlands (planting/weeding/birding/water testing)
Corona High - Prado Wetlands (planting/weeding/birding/water testing)
Summit High - Prado Wetlands (planting/weeding/birding/water testing)
Rubidoux High - San Jacinto Wildlife Area & Lake Perris
Summit High - San Jacinto Wildlife Area & Lake Perris
Patriot High - Santa Rosa Plateau

Designed to introduce high school students to watershed concepts with in-class presentations and field trips at NO cost to schools. We believe that getting kids "to the field" enriches the curriculum for AP environmental science, environmental science, general science, life science, biology and chemistry classes.

For your class, Inland Empire Waterkeeper will work with you to select the location of the trip, provide buses, coordinate with the facility for appropriate tour/presentation, and provide any necessary field equipment. We are flexible and desire to build this experience around the instructors' needs.

Possible Trip Ideas:

• Prado Wetlands [weeding, planting, water sampling]
• Riverside wastewater treatment plant [facility tour, lab tour]
• San Jacinto Wildlife Area
• Santa Ana River water sampling
• Sampling other water bodies
• Eastern Municipal Water District's San Jacinto wetlands facility [tour]
• Corona wastewater treatment plant
• Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) Chino Creek Wetlands and Education Park
• UCR Botanic Gardens
• Western Municipal Water District's water conservation garden
• Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

Field Trip Photos
Click on any of the photos below to see a larger version.

Rubidoux High School , San Jacinto Wildife Area
May 22, 2009
Ms. Washington

Rubidoux students and CA Dept. of Fish & Game staff at the entrance

Student planting mule fat (a native species common to riparian areas)

Students hitching a ride around the ponds.

Ramona High School, Prado Wetlands
Feb. 6, 2008
Ms. Withey-Smith


Ramona High students at the Prado Wetlands sign.


A Ramona High student gathers water for sampling.


Students record their water quality sampling results.



Summit High School, Prado Wetlands
Jan. 30, 2008
Mr. Viencek
To see a video created at this field trip, click here.


Students learn water sampling with Mt. Baldy in the background.

Biologists supervise Summit High students in planting mulefat.


Birding was one of the activities of the day for Summit High.


Summit High students gather water for sampling.

Patriot High School, Prado Wetlands
Feb. 20, 2008
Ms. Williams


Programs Director Autumn DeWoody teaches water sampling techniques.


Patriot High students test for phosphates.


Part of Prado Wetlands, where we conducted the Patriot High field trip.


Corona High School, Prado Wetlands
Feb. 27, 2008
Ms. Anguiano

Students looking for endemic fish in pilot recovery project.

Students make cuttings of mule fat to plant elsewhere and support the least Bell's vireo.

Students are shown nest and empty eggs of the endangered least Bell's vireo.

A great Web site for science education grants for teachers is www.creec.org. For more information, please contact Programs Director, Autumn DeWoody at (951) 689-6842.