Congratulations to the 90 young scouts that attended the Youth Patch Day Workshop on Sunday, March 3rd. The group of energetic Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in kindergarten through 5th grade earned the blue and white embroidered Partnering for Clean Streams Patch by participating in various water education activities. Professionals that work to improve our water daily came to lead activities teaching children and their parents about how important water is in our everyday lives. All of the sessions included hands on activities. The kids sang about rain gardens, made worm bins, learned about the water cycle and their local rivers and explored how water is cleaned so it is safe for us to drink. They also learned about storm drain marking and how to protect the water that enters the storm drain system. The workshop ended with a visualization of how little of the water on this planet is fresh water and how only a portion of the fresh water is drinkable. And much of that fresh water is right here – in the Great Lakes!

The participants of the workshop are now prepared to be better stewards of our precious water resources. Many of the participants were excited to come back next year. One parent commented “the kids loved it!” and another pointed out that “there was lots of information that the kids would not have otherwise come across.” A huge thank you goes out to all those who participated and all those professionals who helped make this event possible. We look forward to next year’s Workshop!