At the 2024 University of Illinois Extension Conference last month, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s Ashley Belle, Janice Milanovich and Kristin TePas were presented with an Inclusive Excellence Team Award.
The three were honored for their work organizing and implementing the Calumet Stewardship Day, an opportunity for grade school students to spend time in a restored nearby natural area, learning about science and nature.
Belle, in her role as an IISG Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC) specialist, provides outreach and education to empower stakeholders in AOC communities to interpret and apply science and engineering-based information to sediment remediation projects.
Along with The Nature Conservancy, she led the planning of the 2023 and 2024 Calumet Stewardship days that took place in Seidner Dune and Swale Nature Preserve in Hammond, Indiana. The site is part of the Grand Calumet River AOC, which has undergone several stages of cleanup and restoration.
The two stewardship days were attended by 120 4th and 5th grade students from the School City of East Chicago, where a significant portion of the population is classified as economically disadvantaged and most are Hispanic or African American.
The youth rotated in small groups through as many as six hands-on learning activity stations. Milanovich and TePas, both part of IISG’s education team, engaged students in hands-on water quality activities. They taught students how to use a Hydrolab—equipment used by scientists, to read water quality parameters—as well as how to record data in the field and interpret data to determine the health of a waterbody.
Other stations, led by scientists and environmental experts in the region, included bird watching, dune and swale habitats, fish health, and freshwater mussels. Megan Gunn, who is part of IISG’s Purdue University team, focused on macroinvertebrate identification.
“The stewardship day is a field-based learning experience that connects students to the natural environment and creates a sense of belonging, as they learn about the health of the river,” said Belle. “This can build support for the long-term protection of natural resources in the community.”
