The Education Outreach Program is an hour long presentation on the harmful effects we in society can have on our waterways. This presentation is free of charge to any elementary or high school public or private in our 48 municipality service area. The presentation is flexible so that it can deliver the same message while holding the attention of grades 3 thru 12. Using PowerPoint and our DVD we graphically show how so much of the debris that fouls our waterways is a result of careless and needless littering. Robert DeVita, River Restoration Manager says, ‘we try to make the connection between what they see as fouling our rivers and streams and what role we can all play in preventing this’. They are also shown the River Restoration Volunteer Program in action so that they can see that young people can play a proactive role in our effort to restore local waters. For the younger students a 12 minute DVD of “Messy Marvin”, this entertains while teaching kids about a “Messy” character who learns how his actions can add to the pollution of our waters. The presentation is completed by a hands-on demonstration of a model environment which shows how waterways can be polluted by everyday activities.
For the older students a Power Point of what a typical cleanup can be like is featured and often results in queries as to how to start a volunteer group. The PVSC has been flooded by letters of thanks from students and teachers alike.
