Education and Outreach / Watershed PenPals

Watershed PenPals

RFC's Watershed PenPal program unites students from the Roaring Fork Valley with students in Aurora, Colorado, by reaching across the Continental Divide to create relationships through old-fashioned letter writing and current technology. The City of Aurora and the Roaring Fork Valley both utilize water from the headwaters of the Fryingpan River, making this a transbasin project and relationship.

People, regardless of age, seek positive relationships and connections. Students today are often isolated by technology and negatively impacted by social media. Creating the opportunity for authentic relationships while also educating students about water systems, both natural and man-made makes a wonderful pairing.  The art of writing personal letters and enjoying the anticipation of receiving a response in the mail, teaches critical thinking and patience.

Through a series of shared classes, slides, videos, and activities, students in both Aurora and the Roaring Fork Valley learn about where their water comes from and why it’s important to value, conserve, and protect this life-giving resource. As a part of the program, students also get an opportunity to meet their pen pal virtually and to apply for a newly created summer program called Meet Your Headwaters. Students that are accepted into this program experience their headwaters with their pen pals through rafting and exploring the Roaring Fork Valley.

This project approaches water use by creating connections, teaching about water systems, and building positive relationships. Students learn that the only way forward is through understanding and protecting our earth’s natural systems, each other, and the knowledge that we are all water users.

Program funders: RFC donors, Colorado Water Conservation Board and Pitkin County Healthy Rivers
Program partners: Aurora Water, Aurora Public Schools, Blazing Adventures, Cherry Creek School District, Defiance Rafting, Roaring Fork School District

 

    

Photo credits: Karryn Child and Megan Dean


From left to right:  Aurora Water's Sherry Meschko, Vista Peak 5th grade teacher Karryn Child, and RFC's director of education Megan Dean


The Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education awarded RFC’s Watershed PenPal Program with a 2023 Innovative Environmental Education Program Award.

(September 29, 2023) - RFC's Watershed PenPal program unites students from Basalt, Colorado with students in Aurora, Colorado by reaching across the Continental Divide to create relationships through old fashioned letter writing and current technology. Aurora Water’s Environmental and Educational Outreach program helped forge a connection with the partner school in Aurora - Vista Peak Exploratory. The City of Aurora and the Roaring Fork Valley both utilize water from the headwaters of the Fryingpan River, making this a transbasin project and relationship. In today’s heightened need for water, we often face conflict and territorial battles. This program aims to create positive relationships through communication.

Through a series of shared classes, Google Slides, videos, and fun activities, students in both Aurora and Basalt learn about where their water comes from and why it’s important to value, conserve, and protect this life-giving resource. As a part of the program, students also get an opportunity to meet their pen pal through Google Meets. Roaring Fork Conservancy launches the Watershed PenPal program in Aurora by traveling to the partnering school to meet the students and provide the first class that connects them to their headwaters and pen pals.

This project approaches water use by creating connections, teaching about water systems, and building positive relationships. Students learn that the only way forward is through understanding our earth’s natural systems, each other, and the knowledge that we are all water users.

“All across the state of Colorado these innovative environmental educators and programs are energizing learning and equipping people, communities, and organizations with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to make informed decisions about how they can best care for and sustain our world for future generations,” said Katie Navin, CAEE’s executive director. “They are creating a new standard for learning in their communities.”

CAEE was incorporated in 1989 to facilitate communication, cooperation, collaboration, and coordination among the varied environmental education programs in Colorado. In its 34-year existence, CAEE has worked to strengthen the environmental education field in Colorado through various initiatives and programs such as the Certified Environmental Educator program, Collective Outcomes in EE and the Colorado Environmental Education Plan. CAEE is the Colorado affiliate of the North America Association for Environmental Education.

“People thrive when they experience a range of educational settings. Through an extensive circuitry of learning sites, environmental education helps ensure that the knowledge and skills a person gains in one place can easily flow into new contexts, powering further exploration and boosting ongoing innovation.” Navin said. 

Watershed PenPals in the News

"Sharing is important": Elementary students dive into Colorado waters issues in pen pal program, by Shannon Mullane at The Colorado Sun (May 21, 2024)

Dive deep for Basalt students, by Austin Corona at Aspen Daily News (May 8, 2023)

Want to bridge the West's water divides? Start with fifth graders, by Alex Hager at KUNC (April 3, 2023)

Floating into the Watershed Pen Pal Program, 2022 RFC Winter Newsletter, page 6

Contact Us

Roaring Fork Conservancy

PHONE: (970) 927-1290
EMAIL: info@roaringfork.org

MAILING ADDRESS:
PO Box 3349
Basalt, CO 81621

PHYSICAL ADDRESS:
22800 Two Rivers Road
Basalt, CO 81621

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