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Academic Outreach, a department within the Georgia College & State University’s (GCSU) School of Continuing and Professional Studies, created GCSU Thirst for Knowledge as a new GC Journeys opportunity and community partnership.
The GC Journeys program is designed to help students make the “most” out of the liberal arts education offered at GCSU. The program consists of content and skill-infused core curriculums and transformative experiences to broaden the impact of a student’s education.
“GC Journeys offers a richer experience of college,” said Ruth Eilers, director of Academic Outreach and Adopt-a-Stream regional coordinator. “GCSU Thirst for Knowledge will complete the Community-based Engaged Learning (CbEL) component for the program, but it is not restricted to the GC Journeys program. Any student may get involved with the course.”
GCSU Thirst for Knowledge is led by Eilers through Academic Outreach and is partnering with other departments and groups on campus, such as the Aquatic Sciences Center, to teach about local waterways, water quality, and the importance of water through workshops, training and community events.
“This course is designed to teach students about water quality and education through direct interaction with water sources and workshops and giving students the opportunity to teach the wider public about what they learn,” said Eilers. “Students will facilitate community events including Water Education Day, and educational booths at the ArtHealthy Festival, Art in Sparta festival, and science nights/field trips. Each student will be able to choose what events they would like to be involved in.”
The course is based on community-based engaged Learning and civic engagement to have students use classroom concepts in a real-world setting. A major part of the course will be students interacting with local water sources around Baldwin County including Champion Creek at Lake Laurel, and Tobler Creek at Andalusia Farm, through the Adopt-A-Stream Program.
Participants will also work with community members to create a Water Education Day to present their knowledge or host hands-on activities. Community partners will also be invited to have activities or resources at Water Education Day.
“This course is a great resume builder and every student who takes the course will become Adopt-a-Stream certified for a year,” said Eilers. “They will learn through hands-on training, workshops, and experience how to adopt a steam, preserve their own streams, and inform the public about changes in local water.”
Students will complete 20 or more hours of coursework including at least one Georgia Adopt a-Stream training or Educational Workshop, a community event or alternate break experience, and attending at least five hours of GCSU Thirst for Knowledge lectures/workshops that will be offered monthly covering a variety of topics around water, water quality and water education.
At the end of the semester, the student taking the course will present at the Aquatic Sciences Center Symposium or Confluence Conference.
“Students will also be required to take at least one Adopt-a-Stream training day for chemical training or macroinvertebrate training. This training will be applied during monitoring sessions throughout the year at the different creeks,” said Eilers. “Students can take these lessons to continue monitoring water quality around Baldwin County or pursue adopting a stream back home.”
Eilers held the first monitoring session recently at Champion and Tobler Creeks. Monitoring sessions are open to both students and the community. Working together, they tested the temperature, conductivity, pH level, and more of the creeks. Eilers also taught them about the importance of these findings, how the season can affect some of the tests or results and discussed what the “norms” for the creeks were based on previous monitoring sessions.
“I recommend GC Thirst for Knowledge to students because a little bit of education and experience goes a long way,” said Eilers. “There are very few experts in water quality so having the ability to adopt a section of stream and become a volunteer to the Adopt-a-Stream program helps to improve Georgia's streams, creeks, lakes, and more. It increases public awareness and will hopefully promote both the community and our students to get more involved with their local water sources and their preservation.”