LINK. Sweet Symposium. Creeking at Kon-o-Kwee. Newsletter for CREEK CONNECTIONS. May 12, 2010

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1 Science & Perry Bethesda Sterrett 6-8 Youngsville Technology Traditional City Charter Bradford Upper Commodore High School St. Clair Perry Christ the Divine West Teacher Catholic Academy Mifflin Sherman Hermitage Seneca Shady Side Environmental Valley Charter School Clymer Conneaut Conneaut Fort Hopewell Lake Valley LeBoeuf Maplewood Memorial Meadville Allegheny College Highlands Fern Hollow Slippery Saegertown Riverview Cochranton Middle Nature Center Rock Titusville Middle Pittsburgh Grove CAPA Jamestown Mercer North Obama City Allegheny Brashear CREEK CONNECTIONS Linesville Green Valley Student Aliquippa Gateway Costa Rica Achievement Middle Center LINK Volume #15 Issue #4 May 12, 2010 Newsletter for CREEK CONNECTIONS Based at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania Sweet Symposium By Kelsey Mitchell, Allegheny College Student Creek Connections hosted its long anticipated Student Research Symposium on April 16, Over 425 students gathered along with environmental professionals, community members, and even special guests like President Mullen and featured speaker Beatriz Ramirez and her niece, Ale, from Green Valley School in Costa Rica! Students arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to show off their latest watershed research. Displays this year were, as always, amazing. We had a tough choice when picking the top displays, but after much deliberation; Youngsville s Levees, Hermitage s Red & Black Go Green, and Maplewood s Wind Energy were awarded for being one notch above the rest. Schools participating in the oral presentation session also did a wonderful job developing their projects. Public speaking is a valuable experience but can still be pretty scary. We very much appreciate the schools who stepped up and presented: Conneaut Lake, Clymer Central, Green Valley, Hermitage, Jamestown, Maplewood, Seneca Valley and Youngsville. After a delicious lunch from The Whole Darn Thing sub shop, students were eagerly sent off to focus group activities all over Allegheny campus. There were an extraordinary variety of activities, everything from learning the importance of writing to your senator to looking for signs of streamside critters. Not even the rain could stop the students from learning new and exciting things! Thank you to everyone who participated and made this symposium great! Hope to see you all next year! Creeking at Kon-o-Kwee By Amy Kerschner, Allegheny College Student On Friday, April 23, more than 300 creekers gathered at YMCA Camp Kon-O-Kwee for another annual Creek Connections Pittsburgh Area Student Research Symposium. The dining hall was soon bustling with activity as students showed off their projects. Many schools went above and beyond this year with their project ideas! Students were walking around carrying brightly colored bags to use instead of paper or plastic bags while grocery shopping, thanks to an innovative project by students from Gateway Middle School. Other top projects included projects by Seneca Valley Senior High School, and the Quaker Valley Creekers. In between browsing the research projects, students watched a presentation about birds of prey given by the Audubon Society. Later in the morning, students were dismissed to their focus group activities to learn about a wide variety of environmental studies from water quality, to minerals, to finding turtles in the stream! Everyone was smiling while walking back to the dining hall for lunch from Z-Town Cafe. To top off our day, we had a special visitor during lunch: a bald eagle! Thanks to everyone who came to the Pittsburgh Area Symposium. We had a great day and hope that you had fun! What Would the Lorax Do?- pg. 2 Creek Camp - pg.3 French Creek Cleanup - pg. 4 Symposium photos - pg. 5 Feature Creature - pg. 5 1

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5 Snapshots from our symposia: I am type of raptor, which means that I am a bird of prey. My hooked beak and strong talons help me catch and eat my prey, other birds and bats, which I am able to catch midair. I especially enjoy a nice meal of duck or songbird! You wouldn t want to be in a race with me, because I am the fastest flying bird around. I can dive at speeds up to 200 mph when I see an especially tasty looking snack. I have a darker colored back with a light underside, and a white face with characteristic black Feature Creature By Amy Kerschner, Allegheny College Student tear stripes under my eyes. When I pick a mate, we stick together for life and we breed in the same area each year. We are known to breed on top of high buildings in big cities because we can dive from atop these ledges and there are lots of yummy pigeons! In fact, there are two famous pairs of us living in Pittsburgh, one pair on the Gulf Tower and one pair on the Cathedral of Learning. You can watch a live feed of us on the Cathedral of Learning at w w w. a v i a r y. o r g / c o n s / falconcam_cl.php. Who am I? 5

6 CREEK CONNECTIONS Box 10, Allegheny College 520 North Main Street Meadville, PA Connect with CREEK CONNECTIONS Box 10, Allegheny College 520 North Main St. Meadville, PA Phone: Fax: Web: allegheny.edu From all of the Allegheny College Creekers to you: Thanks for a great year! We can t wait to do it all again next year! FEATURE CREATURE ANSWER: This issue s Feature Creature (pg. 3) is a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). CREEK CONNECTIONS is supported by: Allegheny College, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Bayer Foundation, McKenzie Foundation, Alcoa Foundation, Grable Foundation, Howard Heinz Endowments, the Frick Fund of the Buhl Foundation, PPG Industries and The Nature Conservancy. If you would like to receive an electronic copy of this newsletter instead of a hard copy us at creek@allegheny.edu Go Green!