Honoring our Watershed Educator 2020 Graduates

Lake Champlain Sea Grant’s Watershed Alliance Program educates K-12 students and their teachers about aquatic science in the Lake Champlain basin. Educators include three year-round staff and 10-20 undergraduate and graduate Watershed Educator interns during the university academic year.

Watershed Educators gain valuable experience educating K-12 students about water resources and their local watershed. The interns receive training in stream ecology, watershed science, and teaching science as inquiry. They learn important group management skills that are applicable both in the field and classroom. During 50 hours throughout a semester, each Watershed Educator teaches K-12 students about our watershed on board our research vessel on Lake Champlain, at local stream sites, or in classrooms across the state.

With the end of this academic year upon us, we would like to take a moment to honor and recognize the amazing fleet of Watershed Educators that graduated this spring. Our 2020 graduates interned for more than one season and have been crucial to the success and development of our program by supporting new initiatives and elevating existing programs such as our partnership Sailors and Scientist camp and our Stream Monitoring programs.

To our graduating seniors—we are so grateful to have been a stepping stone in your academic and professional pathway, and we are so excited to see what adventures come next!

Congratulations to:

Jack Goldman, B.S. in Environmental Sciences, University of Vermont

Katherine Helmer, B.S. in Environmental Sciences, University of Vermont

Kierstyn Higgins, B.S. in Environmental Science, State University of New York at Plattsburgh