Future Education Programs

Urban MiniFarm

Future phases of our MiniFarm will increase environmental justice by implementing: a Healthy Food Youth Council (student representatives from multiple schools identify foods served at school as well as food policies); a Community Food Assessment of retail food outlets in our area (RFEI); a Farm Field Trip Guide for teachers; a Healthy Snacks campaign; and a Healthy Food Coalition (comprised of students and adults working on healthy food issues that include citywide policy and zoning). These phases will be interwoven to reinforce our view that every element of a watershed, living and non-living, is interconnected.

Beach profiling

High school students assist college students with beach surveys on Sullivan’s Island and Folly Beach.  Conducted several times a year, these surveys will measure the changing topography and erosion patterns through time. Students will use this information to develop web sites and databases for the two, significantly different, barrier islands.

Volunteer water quality monitoring network

To improve water quality in Noisette Creek we are creating a volunteer water-quality monitoring network in collaboration with the Ashley Cooper Stormwater Education Consortium. Water samples will be analyzed, compared with previously collected data, and entered into a database. This database will be used in conjunction with our creek restoration efforts.

Transects

Transects, an oceanographic research program for undergraduate students, includes a research cruise and semester-long laboratory course. Students spend 5 days at sea collecting samples along the continental shelf off of South Carolina. Following the cruise, students complete a semester long course of collaborative and independent research. Upon completion of the program, undergraduates present their results at professional meetings and to North Charleston high school students.  They will also publish their work and create web resources to help students and the public understand research taking place on a local level. Click here for more information.