Whew! What a Phenomenal Day!

The Mind On Water Symposium here at St. Catherine's Montessori on Wednesday was truly an incredible event!  So much knowledge and information was shared amongst not only our students of all levels, but also the esteemed panelists, moderators, parents, and all other guests.  The cultivation of this atmosphere of learning, filled with the peaked interests of children from all ages here at the school, really produced such a wonderful event!  All of us here in the Adolescent Community are still moving forward with the last few weeks of the school year, but stay tuned here to our blog to check out other wrap-up posts we will be publishing soon!

A Brief Profile of Our Underwriting Sponsors

We would like to thank our underwriting sponsors, Whole Foods and Green Bank, for supporting our Water Symposium.

Whole Foods strives to promote healthier lifestyles, in ways such as offering many organic food options. They help with community events such as ours and they have many locations around Houston.  Core values of this market include: overall quality standards, seafood sustainability, animal welfare standards, and caring for communities.

The Green Bank is a sustainable bank, with multiple locations in the Houston area. Their vision is to become a preferred provider for business and personal banking, and supporters for a healthier environment. They pledge as an organization to act in an environmentally and socially-responsible way to support and strengthen the communities within which they operate.

Change in the Schedule!

Not anything too big, but we have postponed the second Panel Discussion, Stewardship, from 2:00 to 2:30 to allow for a bit more time for poster sessions during the day, and also to extend the Panel Discussion a little bit later for parents who would like to swing by when picking up their students!  Please take note of the new schedule, which you can find on the left hand side in the Blog Archive, located in the previous post.  Thanks!

Sneak Peak of Our Radio Broadcasting!

Here is a quick photo of two of our students spreading the word over the airwaves at KPFT!

Profiles of Our Panel Moderators

The level of excitement is rising quickly as we approach our symposium this Wednesday.  With that being said, we are honored to introduce the moderators of our two panel discussions:

Andrew Sansom
As the former Executive Director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the former Executive Director of the Texas Nature Conservancy, he is one of Texas’ leading conservationists. He has won various environmental awards including The Chuck Yeager Award, The Pugsley Medal, and The Seton Award.  Mr. Sansom has also spearheaded many projects such as The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, and two nationally recognized aquatic facilities.  He is the author of several books, such as Texas Lost, Texas Past, and others.  Andrew Sansom now serves as the Executive Director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Randall Morton

Randall Morton founded The Progressive Forum in 2005. He has owned Randall Morton International, Inc. for 32 years, an independent market communication, advertising, and public relations agency primarily serving the leading oil equipment companies in the U.S., Japan, Mexico, and Europe. Morton created and hosted The Oilfield Breakfast Forum, the largest speaker series in the petroleum industry whose surplus went to the SEARCH-Homeless Project. He earned his degree in government from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tulsa teaching advertising design and copy writing after earning a second degree there in communications.

Student Interview: Colorado River

As the research papers are being completed, one of our 7^th year students took a break to talk about her research on the current relationship of the government and Native American tribes with respect to the water of the Colorado River.

Why did you choose your specific topic?

I have a cousin who is a hydrology lawyer who works with the Native Americans, mostly the Navajo nation.  She works to help them with protecting their water rights.  My sister went to intern with my cousin last summer, and because of her experience, I took an interest in this topic.

What is the historical significance of the Colorado River as a water source for the Navajo?

It has been their water source for many years, and their society has depended on it. There aren’t any significant water sources anywhere nearby other than the Colorado River, so without it, life would be very difficult. 

Who is your mentor? 

My mentor is my cousin.  Her hands-on work with Native Americans in this region has made her a great resource for my research.

What was one point that your mentor made that really means a lot to your research?

She talked about how the government gave Navajo nation more water than they would need, but the water has so many restrictions on it that they cannot use the excess water.  So they are just wasting the water – they can’t put it back into the river.  The Navajo people would like to resell it, so with those profits they can build a water sanitation infrastructure.  But because of the government, they can’t do this.

What other current issues are there between Native Americans and the government about the Colorado River?  What are some solutions? 

For some of the other tribes, they have a lack of clean drinking water.  These tribes often don’t have the money to clean the water they do have, so a lot of people are getting sick.  A solution would be for the government to fund clean water projects for these tribes. The government could also work with the Native Americans to make a better management plan for the water. 

Radio Clips!

In the past couple of days, some of our students have spread the word about our symposium over the airwaves, connecting with Houston station KPFT on the morning show Eco-Ology and also putting out a PSA.  Both of these are shown below so you can listen!

Eco-Ology Radio Show, May 8th 2013

PSA , May 8th 2013




Special thanks to Nuri at KPFT!

Symposium Schedule

The schedule for our Mind On Water symposium is complete!  Please take a look so you are prepared for our event:

• 8:30 – Registration / Open poster session
• 9:00 – Keynote 
• 9:30 – Panel Discussion 1 – Scarcity
• 10:30 – Poster Session      
• 12:00 – Lunch
• 1:00 – Poster Session / Activities
• 2:30 – Panel Discussion 2 - Stewardship
• 3:50 – Call to Action
• 4:00 – Poster session / Activities
• 5:30 - End

More updates to come, stay tuned!

Our Florida Trip to MarineLab!

MarineLab, a set on Flickr.

Last week, the entire Adolescent Community traveled to Key Largo to explore the habitats of sea grass, mangrove trees, and coral reefs! The entire group had the opportunity to connect coursework and some topics for the water symposium with real-life environments, and the result was a much deeper understanding of how water is such an integral part of many different ecosystems. Included here are a few images of the lab work that some of the adolescents conducted on samples they collected from the Key Largo Sound, Florida Bay, and the deeper water of coral reefs near Hawk Channel.

Student Interview, Texas Rivers

There are so many interesting topics being researched for the “Mind On Water” Symposium!  One of the 8^th year students has spent time independently researching and working with her mentor to put together a wonderful presentation on her topic, Texas Rivers.

Why did you choose your specific topic?

Texas Rivers are something that has always been close to me. From an early age I have been experiencing what these rivers have to offer whether it is canoeing through a canyon, going to the best summer camp in the world on a lake on the Colorado River, or just enjoying a swim.

Who is your mentor? 

His name is Charles Irvine, and he is an attorney with Blackburn Carter.  He has a lot of experience with rivers and waterways in Texas, and he worked on a case about the mass death of whooping cranes at Matagorda Bay due to excessive salinity.  The state of Texas was found at fault, and Mr. Irvine was a big help in protecting the rights of the endangered Texas birds.

What was one point that Mr. Irvine made that really means a lot to your research?

One thing he said that I found really interesting was about the Colorado River. The LCRA (Lower Colorado River Athority) determines how much water is taken out of the river and to whom. Originally there were only three major consumers of water: industries (factories, energy plants, etc.), farmers (Mr. Irvine used rice farmers as an example), and water for municipalities. To collect the water the LCRA built many dams, creating lakes such as Buchanan, Inks, and lake Travis. Naturally people are attracted to water, so once the lakes were made homes were built there too. Because of this there became a new consumer of water in the market - lakeside homeowners. When the LCRA has to let some water down the river from the lakes, especially during times of drought, the lakeside homeowners loose their lake, making them angry with the LCRA. This makes it really difficult because there is often not enough water for all the Colorado River consumers. Someone has to get less water. Unfortunately, the rice farmers often end up being the ones that loose their water. Municipalities are put at high priority because clearly people need to drink water. Water for energy is also seen as a necessity. The lakes for the lakeside homeowners may not be a necessity but the lakeside homeowners often get more of a say as to what happens with the water. There are more of them than there are rice farmers so their vote is stronger.

Is there a major problem currently with rivers in Texas?  What are some solutions? 

There isn’t just one problem, there are many.  Mr. Irvine helped me organize some of these problems. One thing he mentioned was point source and non-point source pollution.  Point source pollution is basically a single source of a pollutant, like a pipe from an industrial plant that dumps sludge into a river.  Mr. Irvine said that this can be controlled or prevented with permits.  Non-point source pollution, though, is harder to deal with.  The cause could be an entire area of farmers putting fertilizer down on their fields.  When nitrogen levels get too high and affect the environment, it can be impossible to tell who is responsible.  The way to deal with this is through laws and regulations, which take time to become effective. That is just one of the issues affecting the Texas Rivers.