Students Take the Lead On River Issues

2018 Year in Review

Wild Rose Education’s Youth Water Leadership Program™ mission is to create authentic student-centered learning experiences that increase watershed literacy through civic action. During 2018, the program reached 646 student contacts ages sixth grade-college in three program areas during 94 hours of experiential learning.

• 5 Lens on Climate Change Filmmaker Teams
• 4 films: Our Lives Our River, Out of Balance, Streamflow on the Crystal, and Grass Skis selected for 2019 Colorado Environmental Film Festival
• 16 Field Trips and Classroom Visits
• 1 Youth Water Summit

Growth and Expansion of Youth Water Leadership Program™

Exciting growth occurred during 2018, the second year of this signature YWLP program. Hosting the CIRES Lens on Climate Change film making program, creating branding, convening the Summit Leader Team, mentoring senior capstone students, hosting a day long youth water summit, and employing a program intern significantly increased the program’s capacity and impact. In addition to the founding sponsor, Pitkin County Healthy Rivers, 10 additional generous financial sponsors made this expanded programming possible. Finally, utilizing the collaborative support of 20 partner organizations made this year’s YWLP more effective, meaningful, and fun.

Read the new Youth River Voices blog where water, river, and climate change youth leaders give voice to the most important issues of today

2nd Annual Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit
November 15, 2018, Third Street Center, Carbondale, CO
This student-driven educational conference was an opportunity for learning, dialogue, and action on local watershed issues. Students presented their call-to-action research projects and proposed evidence-based solutions to environmental issues within the local watershed. This year’s event included:

• 20 student presentations and films
• 2 keynote speakers
• 6 Summit Leader Team members
• 10 student-determined topic group discussions
• 14 Opportunity Expo presenters
• 5 interactive activities
• 1 Watershed Trivia Game
• 125 burritos

Watch the student presentations below

The Third Street Center 501(c)3 is the fiscal agent for the Youth Water Leadership Program.