The Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition in Butler County reported in its January Catalyst newsletter-- It was our largest symposium yet!  On December 3rd, the annual Student Symposium on the Environment was held at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Lawrence County.

A record number of students from local colleges and universities were able to showcase their work in a variety of environmental fields.

Their projects and research endeavors were quite impressive, as the panel of judges calculated many extremely close scores.

We were very encouraged by the great number of excellent projects and hope the student participants and other students continue to ask questions, design experiments and seek solutions to environmental issues.

Your work can, and does, make a difference!

In the category of Environmental Project Presentations, the top award went to Kelsey Kilbane, Christina Mauri and Jamie Linderman from Westminster College for their presentation entitled, “Lawrence and Mercer ALLARM Program: A 6-Week Water Quality Study.”

Honorable Mention went to Rachel Letscher from Westminster College for her presentation, “Helping Local People Save Local Land: My Internship at Allegheny Land Trust.”

In the Research Poster Presentations category, the top award winner was Tyler Umstead from Duquesne University for his presentation entitled, “Geospatial Analysis of Unconventional Gas Extraction in Cross Creek County Park and Its Watershed.”

Honorable Mention was awarded to Victoria Yeager from Slippery Rock University for “Relationship Between Mercury Concentration and Wind Movement in the Great Lakes Region.”

Class Projects awards went out to Amelia Hartzell, Megan Prybyl and Sarah Laughlin (Best) from Westminster College for their work on, “50 Shades of Logwood Produced from Natural Dyeing,” and to Carli Sebest (Honorable Mention) of Westminster College for her project, “How Do Environmental Problems Exacerbate Poverty?”

 The Oral Presentations category winner was Tyler Umstead from Duquesne University for, “Investigation of Water Quality in Proximity To Unconventional gas Extraction Within and Around Cross Creek County Park, PA,” with the Honorable Mention going to Rachael Letscher, Christina Mauri and Jamie Linderman from Westminster College for, “Protecting the Eastern Hemlocks: Monitoring for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in McConnells Mill State Park.”

Special Thanks to Dr. Helen Boyland, Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Programs Coordinator, at Westminster College!

Be sure to mark your calendars and save the date for the 2016 Student Symposium to take place on December 1.

For more information on programs, initiatives, projects, special events and how you can get involved, visit the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition website.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy of The Catalyst. 

Note: The Catalyst newsletter is distributed to over 1,100 individuals in over a dozen countries including: Brazil, Peru, South Korea, Mexico, England, Wales, Venezuela, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Germany.

NewsClips:

Hands-On Watershed Curriculum Gives Students Early Start

Allegheny Front: Mister Rogers, The Quiet Environmentalist

Pittsburgh Groups Merge, Preserve River-Focused Programs

1/25/2016