Local students share watershed testing results

Students from Honeoye Falls-Lima High School recently celebrated the Honeoye Falls Creek watershed at the General Motors Fuel Cell Activities Center in Honeoye Falls. Through water quality testing with community partners, youth from the high school took a proactive approach and worked to investigate their local watershed. Rochester Institute of Technology coordinates the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network program locally, in collaboration with General Motors mentors and other community volunteers.

Students presented their data and recommendations to the community, including ideas about watershed action projects, highlighting how then can connect with their local watershed, work with environmental professionals through mentors from the General Motors facility, and how the community benefits through the collaborative sharing of data.

The activities are part of the GREEN program, offered through the national nonprofit, Earth Force.

“It is incredible to watch these young people experience the real-life application of what they are learning in the classroom, many for the first time,” said Josh Goldowitz, undergraduate coordinator of RIT’s Environmental Sustainability Health & Safety program.

General Motors has been supporting GREEN since 1989, and Rochester Institute for Technology started facilitating the program through the RIT student co-op program, with the help of student Andrew Clakeley. This is the first year of the program with RIT in Honeoye Falls.

“It’s critical that we share our knowledge with future scientists, leaders and citizens. Partnering with RIT ensures that we will be successful in this endeavor,” said Dan Hayes, a GM fuel cell engineer and GREEN program volunteer.