KAB provides resources and education to inspire individuals &
the Austin community toward greater environmental stewardship

Clean Creek Campus 2009-2010 Highlights

Clean Creek Campus
Clean Creek Campus is a partnership between the City of Austin, Watershed Protection Department and Keep Austin Beautiful. The program fosters environmental stewardship by providing hands-on activities about watersheds and our environment that lead to a service-learning project.
 
This school-year 27 schools and 2,500 students participated in Clean Creek Campus!
 
Clean Creek Campus Rafting Fieldtrip!
On Saturday, May 8th students, parents and teachers from participating Clean Creek Campuses paddled their way around Lady Bird Lake. The fieldtrip was provided by LCRA to reward schools for their participation in the Clean Creek Campus program and to continue the learning from the classroom to a hands-on exploration of the lake. As if completing a campus service-learning project isn't enough after the rafting trip everyone set out to clean the shoreline. KAB is very impressed by these dedicated students.

  

Thank you LCRA for leading the rafting trip and making this fieldtrip possible.
 
 
Perez Elementary School
What are signs of a healthy soil? Which bugs are good for the soil and my garden? How do chemicals affect our watershed and how do we keep our gardens chemical free? These are just a few of the questions Perez fifth graders asked and answered before setting out to build a compost bin at their school.
 
   
 
 
Mendez Middle School
Enthusiasm at Mendez has grown from 6 raised beds installed earlier this spring to students building a 3 bin compost system in late March. Students studies on composting and soils provides them an understanding of what it takes to maintain a compost system as they determine how to collect vegetable scraps from the cafeteria. Mendez's participation in Clean Creek Campus is in collaboration with Legacy of Giving. 

 

 
Hill Elementary School
After learning about how litter affects our waterways, the role native plants play in preventing erosion, and soil composition students from Hill Elementary School took action to improve Bull Creek Greenbelt.   Projects along the greenbelt included: clearing invasive grass to plant native wildflowers; removing over populated juniper tree;, trimming brush piles to fill low points for erosion control; a cleanup of the park; and a scavenger hunt of the area, which presented an opportunity to tour the grounds and for students to better understand the impact of their project on their local watershed.

Thank you Bull Creek Foundation for all your assistance and expertise to make this work day possible.

Ojeda Middle School
The entire 6th grade - over 300 students- at Ojeda Middle School set out to build a 3-bin compost system to provide a natural fertilizer for their 6 new garden beds. In the process they learned about soil structures, the importance of green gardening and identified organisms living in healthy compost.

 

 
Hillcrest Elementary School
You can't beat the outdoors especially when you get to collect aquatic bugs, hike along a local creek, and search for signs of a clean watershed. 5th graders at Hillcrest Elementary studied watersheds and aquifer structures to learn about the impact of litter and pollution on creeks. To complete their study the 85 5th graders set out to clean Onion Creek that runs next to their school.

 

Langford Elementary School
The importance of quality soil, compost, and green gardening studies in the classroom were put into action at Langford Elementary School. Mr. Chavez's 4th grade class used their muscles to move 3 yards of soil, and construction skills to build 2 raised native garden beds. Students are eager to watch their plants grow and observe the wildlife that their garden will attract.

 

Teacher Feedback…
  • “please keep doing what you're doing!”
  • “Very well organized, effective, excellent hands on activities.”
  • “From day 1- efficient staff good with kids, the program is very well planned.”
  • “Keep it up! Thanks for serving our community.”
  • “This program increases awareness of our school's connectedness to the environment around us.”
  • “This is a wonderful awareness program and fits our science TEKS”
  • “It is important for our students to be proactive in taking care and improving their environment.
  • "This is a hands-on way for them to participate, and it is information that they can take with them as they grow.”
  • “It was a great opportunity for our students to participate in an activity that they likely would not experience elsewhere.”
  • “Litter lesson was well aligned and sequenced and the community clean up was a real eye opener for students and made them connect to Earth camp and the litter lesson.”

 

Thank you America the Beautiful Fund for your Seeds that Grow Hope seeds donation to help sprout school gardens!
 
Thank you Wildflower Center for your generous donation of native plants!