Satellite Academy High School

What’s up world? We are the students of Satellite Academy High School. It is an alternative high school located on the lower east side of Manhattan in New York City (40:40:00 N and 074:03:00 W). Our school is one of four Satellite Academies in New York City. This year is the school’s 25th anniversary. The students in this school all have one thing in common, which is that we messed up in our other schools and we are here for a second chance. We are all glad to be part of this environment. It’s safe and the teachers really care about their students and their futures. Our school is very diverse and it’s a small close community, which makes it seem like we are one big family. Although we are all different and have different ideas, we all agree on one thing- getting our diplomas. In this school it’s easy to accomplish our goals because our teachers are very understanding and creative. They make themselves available to the students, especially students that need help or just need to talk. Our whole school meets at least once a month for community meetings. During these meetings the staff and students get together in the auditorium to talk about issues involving the school, sometimes we watch different plays and performances that our students put on and we even have guest speakers, recently we had the author Sista Souljah. Another way the school is different is Family Group. These Family Groups meet to discuss issues going on in our lives and futures, as well as events occurring around the world. The community meetings and family groups are just a few of the things that make this school safe and comfortable for us. In this school there are three major rules that we need to follow: no fighting, no drugs or alcohol, and no weapons. Students in this school take these rules seriously, and this makes this school safe. We don’t have metal detectors like most schools in New York City because students don’t fight at our school. We resolve or problems using peer mediation/ conflict resolution. Overall we think this school is better than most high schools because we always feel welcomed, safe and cared for. Even though this school is really small, we do a lot of big things. Not so far from the school lies the East River. We hardly knew about the East River and some of us never even heard about it until now. Now we know a lot like about the East River, like for example that it is not actually a river but a tidal straight. The Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound and Hudson River are sources for this body of water. It is 14 miles long and it has been greatly altered by humans. It is not only affected by the marine traffic and the city’s wastewater that empties into the river, but the bottom has been dredged and cemented over. It does not have natural banks anymore, because piers have been built on both sides of the river. We got a chance to test the water Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for two weeks from 10/25/2004 to 11/5/2004. We tested the current velocity, depth, temperature, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, BOD, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, and for coliform bacteria. We also collected and documented the phytoplankton, macroinvertebrates and any other organisms we found. The river has a reputation for being dirty, mainly because of the sewage system. Many students in the class believe that this body of water is highly polluted. We are really excited about testing the water because this was something new for all of us. We will let you know what happens. Sincerely, The Environmental Science Class at Satellite Academy High School, NYC

Racine Montessori School

Letter of Introduction from Racine Montessori School Racine Montessori School is located 2317 Howe Street, Racine, Wisconsin. The data to be reported was collected by the 5th and 6th grade students in the Meadow – the upper elementary classroom. We have been monitoring the Root River for two years. Our site is next to a golf course so we have expected to see high levels of nitrate and phosphate but the levels have not been too high to support life. We have tested and found high levels of phosphate and nitrate water from a small stream that feeds into the Root River from the golf course. Thanks for looking at our data! Location of Study: Racine Montessori School collected data at the Root River at Colonial Park, Racine, Wisconsin Latitude 42.760 Longitude -84.814

Queen of Angels Academy High School

Hello! We are the students at Queen of Angels Academy (High School) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal is situated at 45º 28’ N and 73º 45’ W. Queen of Angels Academy is a Catholic day school for girls. Approximately 490 students are currently attending the Academy ranging from grades 7-11. Our school has many clubs and sports teams such as: soccer, basketball, swimming, hockey, badminton, volleyball, choir, intermediate and senior band and a whole lot more. Our school motto is “Amor Vincit Omina,” which is Latin for “Love Conquers All.” The southwestern part of Montreal Island is bordered by a lake called “Lac St. Louis” or in English “Lake St. Louis”. This lake is part of the St. Lawrence River, which surrounds Montreal, which makes our city an island. It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk to the lake from our school. A long time ago, people would actually swim in this lake but today it is way too polluted. The pollution comes from chemicals that may have gotten into the water from the farms and industries that surround the lake. The lake may not be good for swimming anymore, but during the summer, people like to take their boats out onto the water or walk and bike on the bicycle path that we have along it. We will be testing the water in the lake by taking the water from the shore using our own hand built tools. We will be doing the following tests: general observations, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates turbidity and coliform bacteria. See the next page for our individual test hypotheses. We are excited to do these tests and see the results. We hope other people will realize how pollution can affect the lake and its surroundings. Sincerely, The 8th grade students of Queen of Angels Academy General Hypothesis: If we test the river water from Lac Saint-Louis, then we will discover the water is polluted and unhealthy because of all the industries surrounding it, causing there to be more dirt and garbage such as pesticides and naturally occurring substances. Individual Hypotheses Dissolved Oxygen: We think that the dissolved oxygen level will be high because of the temperature (it’s cold!) because the colder the H²0 the greater the solubility of oxygen. pH: If we test the pH of the water, then the pH will be 5.9 because there are industries that release acid in the air. We think that the pH will be greater than 5 because the fish are still alive and we know that the fish can only live in water that has a pH greater than 5. Nitrates: If we test the level of nitrates in the water, we believe that it will be approximately 4 mg/L because a fair amount of fertilizers were used on nearby farms. Temperature: If the temperature of the air is below 0°, then the lake water temperature will be slightly warmer (between 2°- 5°) because the temperature of water is warmer then the air’s atmosphere. Phosphates: If we test the level of phosphates in the water, then it will be around 5 ppm, because there are fertilizers being used from the farms and industries. General Observation: If we see a bloom that could mean there would be a lot of cyanobacteria, which they would reproduce by eating nitrates and if there aren’t anymore nitrates they would die and decomposers would decompose them and use up most of the oxygen.

Pembroke Hill School

Greetings! We are the Environmental Studies class at Pembroke Hill School, a private urban college prep high school located in mid-town Kansas City, Missouri. Our exact location is: 39.100ºN 94.578ºW This is the first time for several years that Pembroke Hill has offered Environmental Studies. Brush Creek,an urban creek, runs through extensive high-income residential areas and golf courses before it runs past our school. After passing by our school, the creek runs through a paved, straightened channel and through a major shopping area ("the Country Club Plaza") before joining the Little Blue River. Heavy rains cause substantial flooding through this area, which is why many of the creeks have been "improved" (paved with steep stone or concrete banks). The portion of the creek that runs past our school still has natural bottom and banks. Our hypothesis is that the sewage effluent from the Country Club Plaza residences and businesses is significantly changing the water quality of Brush Creek, decreasing the water hardness and pH while increasing the chlorine count and fecal coliform level. We anticipate the the Plaza will cause significant increase in nitrate, phosphate, and BOD readings. Our plan of action is as follows: We will test at a location adjacent to Pembroke Hill upstream of the Plaza, at a second location far upstream of the Plaza (at Mission Road and Tomahawk Road), and at a location downstream of the Plaza, at Volker Blvd and Troost Avenue. Tests for nitrate, phosphate, chlorine, pH, hardness, fecal coliform, and BOD will be performed on a sample taken from the middle of the stream, halfway between the bottom of the creek and the surface. We will test on at least two different dates. Sincerely, Elizabeth McIntyre, Instructor Students: Joe Reardon, Matt Bleakley, Erin Bleakley, Caitlin Stadler, Katie Black, Krista Perkins, Lilly Jianas, Winston Hunter, Ben Ladner, Thatcher MacDonald, and Cameron Dicker

SMPK 1 BPK Penabur

Hi! We are SMPK 1 BPK Penabur students. SMPK 1 BPK Penabur is located in Bandung city, West Java, Indonesia. Our school is one of the most favourite schools in Bandung that has 19 classrooms of 7th grade until 9th grade with 40 to 45 students in every classroom. There are a lot of facilities that we can use in our school, such as computer laboratory, physics laboratory, biology laboratory, library, sports court, flag ceremony court, worship devotion aula, and canteen. One of our computer teachers told us that there is a project to test water sample. After we knew the rules to join this project, we decided to join this project enthusiastically then that few days later, we (some of SMPK 1 BPK Penabur’s 8th and 9th grade students) decided to go to Lembang city, about 19 kilometers in the north of Bandung city, to take samples of water from a small river in Cikahuripan Village. We took water samples from several points of Cikahuripan Village’s river in order to be tested. We tested the water samples by some tools available and we have already had some informations related to the project. Now we are in the process of making a final report based on our observation. http://a07jkt.bpkpenabur.or.id/montage/_private/index.htm PDF of report Yours truly, SMPK 1 BPK Penabur’s 8th and 9th grade students

Saint Joan Antida High School

Saint Joan Antida High School is a very diverse all girls Catholic school in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Milwaukee can be found at a latitude of 43:03:48N and longitude of 87:58:00W. We are at an elevation of 634 feet. Our city is located on Lake Michigan and we can walk there from our school to get our water samples for this project. We are mainly 9th graders and are working on this project through our physical science class.

Verdigre Public School

For our project, we tested the water from a farmer's pond. The sample was taken at approximately 6 pm 4 miles south of Verdigre. Samples of this water were sent to the Lower Niobrara Natural Resources District in Butte, NE, the NRD office in Verdigre, and to the Central District Health Laboratory in Grand Island, NE. The sample was taken from the bank (outskirt) of the pond. The pond is springfed. Since the pond is surrounded mostly by pasture, and the closest field is about 0.25 miles away, I guess that there will be a low number of nitrates, probably no more than 4 ppm. I am also guessing that the pH level will be between 3 and 8 because there's not a whole lot of acidic or basic factors that would contribute to a dramatic change in the pH level. Verdigre's latitude is 42.59761 and its longitude is -98.039037. The zip code population of Verdigre is 1,209. Winnetoon's latitude is 42.49548 and its longitude is -98.05128. The zip code population of Winnetoon is 212.

Franklin ISD

The students involved in this project were in Integrated Physics and Chemistry classes. They attend school at Franklin High School in Franklin, TX. Franklin is about 30 miles north of Bryan-College Station. Bryans location is about 30o40'N and 96o33'W. City of Franklins population is about 1500. Our high school has about 300 students. The students predicted that Lake Limestone, which is about 30 miles from Franklin, would have good quality water.

Decebal High School

We learn at Decebal high school. This year our school will reach the age of 35. In ’70, a high school was built, close of a beautiful and large park. Its name will be Decebal, the same as the great leader of the Daces. As the achievements of this nation have been highlighted in our history, thus our school has the goal of achieving higher and higher successes and within time to gain renown among other high schools of our city Constanta. Our school is a theoretical high school, it has more than 20 classrooms situated on two floors and also laboratories for all the important classes and specializations. The physics, chemistry, biology and IT laboratories are some of the advantages offered to the new generations that are anxious to gain more knowledge’s. As well as we achieve the knowledge for the next step in building our careers, with the essential help of our teachers, we also have after-school activities like ecological trips, acting in plays and other artistically experiences, that help us developing our skills. It is told that high school years are the most beautiful years of our life. In time we’ve learned that we have to appreciate what we’re going through, and to use as much as we can, all the knowledge’s that our high school offers, so that we can achieve our goals in life.

Quest High School

The students of Quest High School form a small community within a community. We are always trying to help change our community and help it be its best. Every Wednesday the students go out into the community and work with people. Some of the student work with children in the local schools, other students work with the elderly, and others work with local businesses. We believe the water quality in our area is poor due to the tremendous amount of construction and nonpoint source pollution in our area. The Biology classes have decided to go out in to the community and try to find a way to solve this problem. We will test the water along a local river in our watershed, Spring Creek, located at +30.0, -095.3. We hope to find a way to help our community's water supply and also giver other communities ideas to improve theirs as well.