Franklin High School, SE Portland
Teacher: Beth Biagini, 10th, 11th, 12th grades – Chemistry, Biology and Environmental Science
Megan Hanson, Clean Rivers Education Coordinator at BES, explains directions for storm labeling to Franklin High School students
While normally located at SE 52nd and Division, Franklin’s nearly 100-year-old campus is undergoing major renovations, leaving students to make a temporary home at the former Marshall High School campus on SE 91st. The big changes didn’t prevent Franklin from participating in Salmon Watch!
Click on the title to read more!
Beth Biagini is a new teacher to Salmon Watch this year, after being encouraged to participate by her colleague and longtime Salmon Watch teacher, Megan Whisnand. Beth took her students out to the Salmon River in the Mt. Hood National Forest in late September and wanted to engage her students in a follow-up service learning project that focused on human impacts on our waterways.
Partnering with Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) and its Clean Rivers Education staff, Megan Hanson and Christa Shier, the class participated in two in-class presentations by Megan and Christa on the topics of sustainable stormwater and the threats that biomagnification (the sequence of processes by which higher concentrations of toxic substances, such as cadmium and arsenic, are reached in organisms higher up the food chain) pose to our watersheds.
Following up on what they learned from both programs, Beth and her students along with staff from Clean Rivers Education and World Salmon Council took advantage of a sunny day in late February to educate others about the importance of keeping waste out of storm drains. This entailed affixing the familiar “Only Rain Down the Storm Drain” medallions on sidewalks by nearly 40 storms drains around their school campus, as well as providing informational door hangers to residences directly bordering the drains.
Check out a short video of students in action:
Thank you to Beth’s students at Franklin High School and to Megan and Christa at BES for educating our communities about the importance of clean waterways for everyone living downstream!
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