Field Notes

WINONA LAKE, IN— This week, 285 4^th grade students gathered in Winona Lake Limitless Park to learn about erosion, watersheds, as well as how to fish. Lake Adventure Day is a partnership between the Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams and the School of Education at Grace College.

Brooklyn Bosworth is a senior at Grace College in the School of Education. She led one of the watershed and pollution stations alongside her peers and freshmen students. Bosworth particularly appreciates the fact that learning about science is not just textbooks and worksheets. Instead, thanks to Lake Adventure Day, students can learn near a lake.

“We talk to the students about what they can do today,” Bosworth said. “They can talk to their parents about what they learned, clean up trash, and more. They also learned about things they can do in the future, like not driving their cars as much.”

Senior college students from the School of Education receive training from Lilly Center staff. During their training day they learn how to use environmental educational tools like stream tables, EnviroScapes, and fishing poles. During Lake Adventure Day, 25 senior students led their lessons with the help of more than 40 freshman college students.

Elementary Education Chair, Dr. Rachael Hoffert, has been preparing and mentoring her students for just this kind of opportunity.

“Lake Adventure Day gives our students valuable hands-on experience by giving them opportunities to teach the same lesson multiple times throughout the day,” Hoffert said. “Freshman students help facilitate lessons and get a taste of what they can look forward to in just a few short years!”

Equipping 4^th grade students today is an investment in the future of our lakes – and the Kosciusko County community! Water literate students become future business owners, landowners, and leaders who are prepared to make positive choices for our lakes and streams.

Lake Adventure Day is possible thanks to a collaboration with Warsaw Community Schools, Lakeland Christian Academy, and Sacred Heart. Education programs like Lake Adventure Day are sponsored by DePuy-Synthes, City of Warsaw Stormwater Utility, Warren and Augusta Hume Foundation, Warsaw Optimist Club, Zimmer-Biomet Foundation, and Runnings.