by Rita Grub
Alabama Water Watch congratulates Katie Morris, AWW monitor and recipient of the Girl Scout Gold Award, which represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. To accomplish this goal, Katie had to design and propose a sustainable project that would benefit her community.
Katie conducting water chemistry monitoring at Shoal Creek
Katie’s project, The Quality of Water Around You, involved more than 80 hours of community service and outreach. She states that AWW certification was a crucial component of the project’s acceptance because she was able to assure the Girls Scouts of North-Central Alabama Council that the data compiled during her project would be credible and of use to local and state authorities in assessing water quality.
Katie wanted to communicate the importance of clean water to her community and designed the project to involve all ages, from Kindergarten to adults. Bill Peters, AWW Trainer, and Gene Grimes, AWW monitor, served as Katie’s mentors. She accompanied them when they sampled sites at the Living River Center on the Cahaba and was certified at an AWW workshop in July, 2013.
Elements of Katie’s project included:
- Water Chemistry sampling at Shoal Creek at Montevallo’s Orr Park for a year
- Litter Cleanup at the Living River Center on the Cahaba River
- Environmental Education and Outreach at Evangel Classical Christian School in Alabaster for Kindergarten through 5th grade
- Water Chemistry sampling demonstrations at the Shoal Creek sampling site to the Boys and Girls Clubs in her community (middle school grade level)
- Water Quality handouts to faculty at her school for classroom use
- Presentation to an adult group at Montevallo Presbyterian Church
- Compiling a notebook about her project which will be passed to University of Montevallo’s Environmental Club in the hopes that they will continue sampling at Orr Park and use it as a model to develop more ways of teaching the importance of water quality to the community.
Katie cleaning up litter at the Living River Center on the Cahaba River with her mentors, Bill Peters (left) and Gene Grimes (right)
Katie, a freshman at the University of Alabama, will receive her official presentation in March, 2015. Alabama Water Watch is proud to have been a part of Katie’s success – all of us extend our best wishes for her future.