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No Plain Drains Here! Eastwood Elementary Environmental Fair

Note: BWB staff member Brian Dawkins is an Americorps Public Ally who performs site visits, installations, and outreach for our Water Audit program.

On Friday, April 27th, Blue Water Baltimore teamed up with Eastwood Elementary Magnet School for their 5th Annual Environmental Fair. As BWB’s representative at the fair, I was asked to speak to a group of 3rd graders and lead them in a storm drain labeling exercise.

Decals tell passersby where stormwater goes.

As I arrived at the school, I was greeted by several unfamiliar yet friendly faces, eager to direct me towards my destination. I was handed a light-blue program with the day’s itinerary inside and my name on the list next to Grade 3. I was then pointed in the direction of Principal Cheryl Brooks. I initially met Principal Brooks at a tree planting and giveaway in Dundalk, where she signed up for our Water Audit program back in November 2011.

Eastwood students show off their decals.

After checking in with Principal Brooks, I found April Puckett, Eastwood’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) resource teacher. We then coordinated a plan for which storm drains to label and how we would split the children into groups for the activity. I spoke to a class of approximately 30 kids about all drains leading to the Chesapeake Bay. Then, we headed outside to label 10 storm drains along the west side of the school’s exterior. The energetic students received gloves, trash bags, and mini-brooms to pick up trash along the way, in between storm drains.
The deeper we got into the labeling, the more excited these kids became and the stronger their awareness grew. “There are cigarettes everywhere,” one kid said as he meticulously attempted to pick up every single piece of garbage from off of the ground.

Eastwood Elementary Magnet is an Environmental Science school and these kids displayed that they are living what they are learning.  Some were more passionate than others, but there was a mutual interest in maintaining clean streams. For more pictures of the day, take a look at our gallery below!

If you are interested in putting decals on storm drains in your Baltimore County neighborhood, please contact our volunteer coordinator, Debra Lenik. For Baltimore City neighborhoods, please contact our Community Organizer, Lauren Poor.

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