Think of a moment when you learned something that profoundly changed your perspective, making it impossible to unhear or unsee. Was it the time you learned about centrifugal force as your teacher swung a bucket of water overhead until it stopped and dumped all over his head? These moments might have altered how you engage with an object, whatever it may have been, and even could have paved the way for a new career. Maybe it’s when you first learned how to weld two pieces of metal together and decided you wanted to be a welder, or you attended a conference and discovered a cool thing called journalism graphics and decided to become an art director. 

We believe the Pend Oreille Water Festival is one of those moments for the 310 fifth graders in the Lake Pend Oreille School District. It’s a moment that changes perspective and inspires them to be stewards of our environment. 

The annual water festival is an environmental education program Barbie Hunt of Southside Elementary School started many years ago that keeps flowing (no pun intended) strong with the goal to raise awareness and knowledge of our regional natural resources and interconnectedness. 

Fifth graders learn about and engage with our local environment through interactive classroom sessions culminating in a field trip to the Riley Creek Recreational Area in Laclede. There, 50 high school students act as mentors and guides. The students participate in hands-on learning stations that cover topics such as fisheries, water quality, watershed dynamics, animal tracking, and the historical fur trapping era, providing a well-rounded understanding of the local ecosystem and its history.

The Water Festival’s curriculum is designed to increase awareness and knowledge of the region’s natural resources. It emphasizes the importance of conservation and stewardship, focusing on water as a precious resource. Students gain a geographical and historical perspective of the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Watershed and understand its significance within the larger Columbia River Basin.

A key aspect of the program is its collaborative nature. It involves local nonprofits, state agencies, natural resource professionals, teachers, high school students who act as mentors and guides on field trip days, parents, and community members who come together to create a shared environmental learning experience. 

Classroom visits from natural resource professionals further enhance the program’s impact. These professionals use visual aids, such as large floor maps, to explain the flow of water through the Columbia River Basin. This visual learning experience helps students connect classroom knowledge with real-world observations during the field trip.

See it in action.

The Pend Oreille Water Festival is a teacher grant we have funded since 2010.  Empowering young people with knowledge encourages a sense of responsibility and inspires them to become stewards of their environment. The program’s success is a testament to the power of collaboration and community engagement in environmental education.

Our teacher grants support Lake Pend Oreille School District educators to bring creative and innovative programs to the classroom. Because they are teacher-led ideas and not mandated by outside parties, they have a far more significant impact on the students. These grants fill gaps in funding with innovative programs to amplify our impact. If you’d like to support this, you can donate here.