Highlights of Kelsey Creek Watershed Internship Project:
- Students from Newport High School, Bellevue High School, the International School and Sammamish High participate in the program.
- Students from Newport High School, Bellevue High School, the International School and Sammamish High participate in the program.
- Interns participate in a water quality monitoring program on Kelsey Creek, including physical, chemical and biological testing.
- Interns work with the local Bellevue Family YMCA and Ben Rush YMCA to deliver fun, interactive activities to 3rd – 5th grader monthly through the spring.
- Interns develop and present lessons on the following topics: watersheds, water cycles, salmon lifecycle, non-point source pollution, animal tracking and more.
- In past years, the students at Somerset Elementary School (a past partner school) created a variety of projects, including a classroom newsletter, a puppet show, a play about pollution, an environmental comic book and more.
- Interns created the "Kelsey Creek Watershed Inventory," a comprehensive research document which provides information on historical, biological, and cultural parameters within the watershed.
- In 2003, the interns and their Mercer Slough mentors created the guidebook, Making Waves: Watershed Education in Your Community, A Handbook for Teens.
- The Kelsey intern team finished first for King County and second overall for the NW region in the 2006 Envirothon.
- The Kelsey Creek interns participated in a city-wide Arbor Day event on April 22 2006. In partnership with Bellevue Parks & Community Services, the Kelsey Creek interns organized and staffed a native species planting at the Mercer Slough fish ladder where over 100 ferns, salal and saplings were planted.
- During the summer of 2006, interns engaged the general public at Pacific Science Center in informal, hands-on, interactive demonstrations about their local watershed with Discovery Carts. Two mobile carts were developed: Intro to Your Watershed and Impacts on our Watershed. These carts were visited by more than 380 visitors during the three Saturday summer sessions.