Thousands of Stream Leaders Students Collect Water Quality Data
2025 marked another successful year for CRWC’s long-running Stream Leaders program. Last year 2,444 middle and high school students from 17 schools across the watershed monitored water quality at 18 sites with the help of 24 mentors. This was the largest number of students participating since 2019.
“Student Conference is a really important experience for students to share their scientific findings with their peers and attend an event that is modeled after a real science conference. It’s a really unique opportunity that we’re able to provide.”
In addition, students from Endeavour Middle School in New Haven introduced robotics to Stream Leaders. The students used underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to collect water samples for chemistry testing.
And, every 6th grader at Romeo Middle School participated in fall monitoring over a three-day period. This work is part of a partnership with Romeo Schools, in which CRWC offers volunteer opportunities to students, which is part of their middle school experience.
And for the first time since the pandemic, CRWC hosted its Stream Leaders Student Conference. This event is an opportunity for student representatives from participating schools to share their Stream Leaders monitoring results with peers. Students experience a professional conference atmosphere where they present their water quality findings and attend breakout sessions focused on relevant environmental topics led by professionals in their community.
Stream Leaders is a place-based, outdoor education program that provides middle and high school students with hands-on experience in water quality monitoring, data interpretation, and citizen action. The curriculum raises awareness of the importance of local water quality and cultivates a connection to the Great Lakes Basin.