CHALLENGING YOUTH TO THINK LIKE ARCHITECTS Offered to students ages eight to 13, the challenge helps learners think through a unique set of criteria and challenges in order to design and build a house for their client, a gnome. More than 2,000 When Trent Hicinbothem’s mom, Ellen, learned that he wanted to be an architect, she immediately went to Fallingwater.org to purchase tickets so he could tour Fallingwater. Coincidentally while on the website, she found information about the Gnome House Design Challenge. “I told him about it and he was in,” she recalls. students have participated since the program’s establishment in 2015, including international participants from Canada and England. “I liked that I got to design something original and actually build a model by hand,” explains Trent, a sixth grade student at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School who was a 2019 challenge participant. “I also enjoyed having my client, Marley Tosselsprock, who had specific needs including room for 17 kids and his hobbies!” Fallingwater’s Curator of Education Ashley Andrykovitch says it’s important for participants to get real-world, hands-on understanding of what it’s like to be an architect. “Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright with the Kaufmann family’s likes and needs in mind. So, students are undertaking a similar process with their gnomes,” she explains. The challenge can be completed by individual students or groups, as individual or classroom projects. Students are invited to Fallingwater to display their gnome houses and collaborate with local and international students. Trent said being at Fallingwater and getting to tour the house was an amazing experience. “This project pushed me to be more creative, understand problems and solutions, while learning the different steps of the design process and what architects and designers actually do.” As a young girl, Vancie Peacock heard a lot of scary news about animal extinction. “I didn’t know how to help the animals I cared about so much,” she recalls. Now a senior at Quaker Valley High School in Sewickley, Pa., Vancie puts her passion to practical use in the school’s afterschool environmental internship program, QV Creekers. With guidance from educators from Fern Hollow Nature Center, Creek Connections of Allegheny College and guest speakers from organizations including the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, students monitor the health of the Little Sewickley Creek Watershed. The students get hands-on experience with chemical sampling, erosion control projects, invasive plant removal, amphibian surveys and more. They share discoveries with other schools and organizations at a symposium and witness how collaboration enhances a scientific community’s success. Since 2009, WPC’s watershed conservation staff has introduced the interns to electrofishing techniques, water quality assessment skills and more. April Claus, Sewickley Heights Borough’s director of parks, conservation and education, coordinates the internship program. Each fall she invites WPC’s Director of Aquatic Science Eric Chapman to conduct a team-building activity around electrofishing, a method of sampling fish populations to determine abundance, density and species composition. “We demonstrate how electrofishing can be used to collect numerous fish species,” Eric says. “The kids learn fish identification skills, habitat requirements and important aspects of water quality.” April says students find the lessons fascinating. “Many students have never held a fish. They’re sucked in immediately.” Since 2012, Robert Morris University students have also participated in electrofishing days to learn alongside the high school students. Vancie saw how data informed scientific conclusions. “We sorted hundreds of fish and discussed how data indicated the effects of a recent dam removal, and how they’ve tracked this data for years.” April creates opportunities for students to rub elbows with experts. “The Electrofishing Inspires QV Creeker Interns Trent Hicinbothem, a recent participant in Fallingwater’s Gnome House Design Challenge, says the experience was “really cool” and helped him to learn creativity, architecture and design skills. With guidance from WPC staff and other experts, students in the QV Creekers internship program, funded by the Little Sewickley Creek Watershed Association, monitor the health of the watershed. Perspectives 2 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCYChildren Get Close to Nature in School Gardens Students in Butler Area School District’s McQuistion Elementary “are a blend of kids that live in the city without much knowledge of the country,” says Principal Carrie Morgan-Davis. “Their scope of the world is different.” That’s why the school was excited to have the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy install a courtyard garden during the 2018-19 school year. The garden is one of 63 school grounds greening projects completed by WPC’s community gardens and greenspace staff since 2007. The greening projects enhance learning opportunities by providing outdoor spaces where students connect with nature. McQuistion’s garden contains picnic tables, birdhouses, a thermometer/barometer post, a magnetic pegboard and more. Students and parents take ownership and teachers use the space as an outdoor classroom, Carrie says, noting that it’s a social-emotional learning space where children can take a break and focus as well as learn. “Students in the life-skills class care for mums they planted and check for birds in the bird bath.” The school’s engagement coach is working with local environmental organizations to help teachers incorporate the space into science curricula. An outdoor sensory garden, built with WPC’s help in 2010 at Pittsburgh Public School’s (PPS) Pioneer Education Center in the Brookline neighborhood, has provided students with physical, mental and multiple disabilities a space to learn and experience nature. Recently refurbished with a grant from Pennsylvania American Water, the garden utilizes plants that stimulate children through touch, scent, sound, color and texture. It features a fountain, play panels, bird houses and outdoor musical instruments. At PPS’s Lincoln PreK-5, WPC is installing a raingarden where students will learn about green infrastructure, stormwater management and pollinators. Students’ interests informed the selection of native or hybrid perennials, which will provide food and habitat to pollinating insects. Principal Pamela Parks says, “Students and parents are curious about what’s going on. An expected benefit is a growing interest in science and exposure to agriculture.” Located at Lincoln and Frankstown avenues in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood, the raingarden abuts a WPC community flower garden that’s been in existence since 1995. Lincoln’s students and staff have volunteered during spring plantings. The raingarden is a collaboration between WPC, PPS and Pittsburgh Community Services. Community members will have continued access to a revitalized green space that can help reduce stormwater runoff. “Students will better understand how the water cycle works,” Pamela says. “They’ll learn about the life cycle of plants and how to care for them.” students want to study mudpuppies? We’re calling Ryan Miller at WPC,” she says. In fact, Miller, a WPC zoologist, and Ephraim Zimmerman, WPC’s natural heritage program science director, toured a farm near a tributary to Little Sewickley Creek with the students and other conservation professionals, where they found Jefferson salamander eggs in a pond. “The landowner had been mowing the grass and left little vegetation,” Vancie says, “but she was open to allowing a grass corridor to grow around the salamanders’ migration path from the woods to the pond.” “Every little thing we do improves water quality and supports precious wildlife,” says Vancie, who’s planning a career in biological engineering. “To know I have that power is inspiring.” For the 17 th year since 2002, WPC received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. This means you can trust that your donations are used wisely, ethically and maximized to benefit our region’s water, land and wildlife. Your support matters in all we do. Thank You! Learn more or donate today at WaterLandLife.org BREAKING NEWS! Parents and students enjoy planting perennials at Brookline Elementary’s new early childhood garden. Sarah Kohrs, an artist and homeschool parent, says, “I’m constantly seeking engaging project-based learning opportunities for my sons, Joey and Ezra.” They both are currently completing the challenge, which Sarah says has been an enchanting introduction to architectural design. “I loved the whimsical approach of case studies with gnomes. It's appealing to children and a delightful setup for what can be an intense and technical topic,” Sarah shares. “I will always remember how my two sons' eyes lit up with excitement when they received their clients and learned more about them. It brought the creative imaginations my children already have to life and encouraged them to dream.” Sarah, Joey and Ezra will travel to Fallingwater from Virginia to participate in the symposium this May. She says the Gnome House Design Challenge encourages children to think outside the box. “So often, we look for the right way to do things in art; forgetting that the core of creative expression isn't paint-by-number or an outcome of specific step-by-step instructions,” she says. “These have their places, but it's the vision created in the process – the dreaming – that makes this program such a gem.” Know a student interested in participating? Apply by March 15 to be eligible for the May 2020 Gnome House Symposium. Learn more at Fallingwater.org, email madzema@paconserve.org or call 724-329-7840. Perspectives 3 WaterLandLife.org800 Waterfront Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15222 NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID PITTSBURGH, PA PERMIT NO 2504 20202020 I/We will attend the 2020 Members’ Day and Annual Meeting on May 2! Please share with a friend or recycle. Name Address City State Zip Email Phone Adults and Children 11 and older: $18 each Children 10 and younger: Free Total Number Attending Total Amount Enclosed I/We will bring a picnic lunch # # # $ I/We will tour Fallingwater Please reserve the following lunch buffet tickets: MEMBERS' DAY AND ANNUAL MEETING Join us for our annual member appreciation day from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at The Barn at Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pa. Light breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. Later, enjoy your own packed picnic or purchase a buffet lunch ($18/person, free for children 10 and younger). While activities are free, registration and lunch reservations are required by Friday, April 24. Please return this form in the enclosed envelope, call 1-866-564-6972, or visit WaterLandLife.org/MembersDay2020 to register. On Members' Day you and your family can enjoy the following: • Meet staff and hear about recent accomplishments and current projects in progress at the Conservancy. • Explore the forest! Choose from a variety of guided hikes, including the morning bird hike, Fallingwater landscape hikes, family nature hunt and other mini- expeditions in Bear Run Nature Reserve. • Enhance your garden with a unique selection of plants from our native plant sale. • Enjoy a free tour of Fallingwater. Shop for books, shirts, mugs and more selections from the Fallingwater Museum Store. • Participate in engaging hands-on activities for children. Perspectives 4 C o me o u t s i d e a n d p l a y a t M e m b e r s ' D a y ! REGISTER ONLINE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCYNext >