Sixth Grade students will participate in the Global Water Challenge (GWC) tomorrow, Saturday, December 5, 2015, where they will present water projects they designed in order to meet the water needs of developing countries.

 

The GWC, headed by Middle School science teachers Sue Counterman and Erin Galvin, is a competition where students design a solution to water challenges, such as scarcity, contamination, and security, in developing countries. Beginning in October, sixth graders have been working hard investigating the social, economic, environmental, or health-related water issues that affect their assigned country.

 

This year’s projects include prototypes like a mobile water filtration system designed to address the issue of access to water in countries like Rwanda. According to Counterman, researching and building prototypes like these help students “feel empowered to contribute to the most significant health issue of our time.”

 

In the past, the GWC has inspired students to go on to compete at a national level. Seventh graders Jordan Davidson, Renna Allan and Emily Groza applied what they learned in GWC to building a water filtration system that earned them a regional win in ProjectCSGirls, a competition that challenges Middle School girls to use computer science and technology to develop solutions to imminent social problems.

 

CA students will present their projects along with three teams from St. Elizabeth’s School to a panel of global health professionals Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. Winning projects will be awarded on Tuesday.

 

According to Counterman, the lessons from this type of experiential education cannot be overstated. “This project fills students with optimism to effect positive change in the world. They understand the transformative power that can happen if women and girls no longer need to walk long distances everyday to bring water home for the essential needs of their families and the ways that the whole community would benefit with a safe sustainable source of water in their homes.”