Capstone Project
During this final year of college I am working on my Capstone project with my fellow student and friend Joe Peterson. Our goal is to educate students and teachers about the problems caused by pollutants in our local waterways, and what they can do to help prevent this from happening in the future. We will accomplish this by building a specific watershed model for the local cities of Marina and Seaside in California. In addition, we will generate lesson plans to help facilitate learning about urban runoff, pollution, and other hazards that our local waterways face. Along with this, we would like to take students on a “walk-about” where they can see aspects of their own watershed in person. To aid us in these goals, we are working closely with an organization called Return of the Natives. This is a local organization that works along-side CSUMB dedicated to involving students (Kindergarten through University level) in habitat restoration and service learning projects in the schoolyard and community. They are an environmental education program whose motto is “Bringing nature closer to people and people closer to nature through hands-on participation in restoring habitats.
While working on this project, even though it is still in its early stages, we have learned a great deal about the concepts related to our local watershed. We are also gaining great skills in a number of different areas relating to our career development. Some of these include: Working with the youth and getting them involved/excited about the environment, restoring and protecting local ecosystems, working towards social change, and getting a large number of people together to complete a common goal.
Josh & Joe Capstone Summary Report
Urban Watershed Pollution Lesson Plan
Joshua Wharf 