Checking data from observations of a rain garden

At the end of last month, students from Pathways-Springville traveled to Baltimore's Inner Harbor to the SciTech Student Learning Laboratory where they had three hours to research, analyze, and design their own rain garden, and then test for its level of groundwater absorption.  In this era of expanding urbanization with ever more paved surfaces, rain gardens are increasingly needed to allow rain water to soak into the ground rather than flow into storm drains and surface waters, which causes erosion, water pollution and flooding.  For this reason, rain gardens are often placed next to parking lots and driveways in urban areas. There is a lot of science involved in creating a rain garden: the composition of the soil as well as plants and their root systems will all impact the usefulness of the rain garden in absorbing and filtering rain water and restoring the water cycle in cities and towns.

Discussing and examining tools needed for rain garden design

The "Rain Garden Engineering Challenge" is a lab being piloted by Towson University's Center for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Excellence.  It is being offered to a select number of middle and high school students, and Pathways- Springville's science and math classes were among them.  When the 12 Springville students arrived at the laboratory they became environmental engineers.  Breaking into teams of two, they were asked to observe the rain gardens being installed outside the building housing the SciTech Laboratory.  They had to analyze the purpose and positive impact of the rain garden and research types of soil (mulch, loam, pea gravel and sand) that was or could have been used.  Given a mock budget of $100, and using the data from their observations and analysis, they had to design their own

Measuring the amount of liquid absorbed by the rain garden

garden and then collect and observe data on how much water their design absorbed.  The  lab meets both state common core curriculum standards and "next generation science standards". It encourages students to develop hypotheses and delve into the world of scientific exploration.

The Springville students delved with enthusiasm, sustaining their interest and energy throughout the hours-long lab.  When it came time to present their findings and the results of their work, even the most reticent of the students strode to the front of the room and spoke with confidence.  They returned to their classroom proud to have met the "Rain Garden Engineering Challenge".

In early September, after a campaign speech televised on

William Fairfax

the student-run morning show throughout Crossland High School, Pathways-Crossland Re-Entry sophomore William Fairfax was elected president of Crossland's entire sophomore class.  The position makes him the class officer/representative in the Student Government Association (SGA), which meets weekly after school.  The SGA is a forum for varying student viewpoints and has the responsibility to promote civil dialogue and democratic decision making within the student body.  His position on the SGA is in line with William's interest in civics and his participation in an advanced placement government class.  In order to be a member of the SGA, students must have and maintain at least a 2.0 GPA.