News With Stacey Page | Mid Northern Indiana News

     Kosciusko Lakes and Streams, a county-wide environmental initiative centered at Grace College, has received a $25,000 grant to launch a series of environmental field days targeting 2,600 students throughout Kosciusko County. The grant was awarded by the Dekko Foundation, headquartered in Kendallville, Ind.
     KLAS will expand its current educational offerings to include approximately 1,000 children primarily at the fourth grade level and an estimated 1,600 adolescents primarily at the ninth grade level over the next two years. Field day curriculum will include hands-on and investigational science experiences focused on environmental stewardship, ecology and water quality, with specific regard to protecting the bodies of water in Kosciusko County. The sessions will be held at Camp Crosley YMCA in North Webster, Ind.
     “Kosciusko County is home to more than 100 natural lakes, including the largest, Lake Wawasee, and deepest, Lake Tippecanoe, natural lakes in Indiana,” said Dr. Nathan Bosch, KLAS Director and Assistant Professor of Environmental Biology at Grace College. “With state science education statistics declining, we are excited to partner with county schools to educate thousands of area students and teachers about some of the greatest natural resources in Kosciusko County.”
     KLAS has hosted four field days since October 2008, serving 460 students, at Warsaw’s Pike Lake. Camp Crosley will accommodate more students and additional applied learning opportunities.
     A secondary objective of this program is to equip 190 current teachers, future teachers and Camp Crosley staff members with tools to improve their methods of teaching science education. While curriculum will be created by Dr. Bosch, Grace College Teacher Education candidates will provide the actual instruction for fourth graders, allowing future teachers to gain confidence in teaching scientific and current environmental subjects. Local water and environmental experts will assist in the instruction for ninth grade students.
     The Camp Crosley field day experiences will be coordinated through Warsaw Community Schools, Wawasee Community School Corporation, and other private and home school educational organizations.
     KLAS was established in 2007 to preserve and promote water quality in Kosciusko County primarily through research and education. KLAS works collaboratively with many organizations to create strategic initiatives to improve water research, track all local water quality information, educate and mobilize lake associations and water quality organizations, improve local K-12 science education, and empower the general public to practice stewardship of natural water resources.
     The Dekko Foundation’s mission is to foster economic freedom through education. Grantmaking is focused on early childhood, middle childhood, adolescent and community development in specific geographic regions of the country.

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• Kosciusko AWL receives grant
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