Pierce Students Bring Home Prizes at Wonderful World of Water
By Lauren Delka
The 36th annual Wonderful World of Water Festival was held September 17th at Gilman Park in Pierce, and of the 15 teams of ninth and tenth grade students from nine schools across Northeast Nebraska, one of the Pierce teams came home with championship honors.
The students and instructors at this event proved that a little water never hurt anybody while they powered through this learning experience in the rain for most of the morning.
Certain students from sophomore biology class with Deb Koehlmoos were given the opportunity to take the day off from school for a different learning experience. The following students from the class who attended Wonderful World of Water were Jordyn Schwede, Kate Anderson, Jada Johnson, Natalie Endorf, Meredith Krienert, Alyvia Marks, Taylor Sonnenfelt, Darcy Watts, Cooper Collins, Cole Snodgrass, and Konnar Jones.
In addition to Pierce High School students, students from Osmond, Emerson Hubbard, Lutheran High Northeast, Wynot, Allen, Wausa, Scribner-Snyder, and Laurel-Concord-Coleridge made for a wonderful day of learning for many students from different schools in Nebraska.
Each group went through 12 stations, where they learned about the importance of testing groundwater, wetlands, trees, water and the body, floods, pelts with hunting, aquatic insects, and much more.
“What I learned was that stores and things are actually built on wetlands. I usually thought that they wouldn't build on those because it would maybe sink, but actually, it's the cheapest thing to build on,” Snodgrass explains the lesson that stuck with him the most.
“What I learned is that cupped leaves mean they're poisoned by pesticides and sprays,” Collins says.
Not only were they opened up to a new side of water and how it shapes our world, but they also competed in a rocket-launching contest. The students selected to go made their own rockets and launched them to see who could get the highest.
“Our rockets actually shot well; we didn't win, but ours definitely went high. They did a good job for, you know, the short amount of time they had,” Koehlmoos, teacher for the sophomore biology class, says. Pierce students spend about 30 minutes prior to the competition creating their rockets.
While Pierce did not win the rocket competition, the students took quizzes at every station that were graded, and their overall score was the highest of all the schools present.
The day proved well-used for the students. Students took away many lessons that they will use later in life, and even just be glad they know for fun facts they can tell others.
The Wonderful World of Water program would not be possible without our many natural resources professionals from across the area who volunteer their time each year to share their expertise; and, work with students who might be interested in a career related to natural resources. They come from a variety of agencies including: The Nebraska Department of Water, Environment and Energy, The Natural Resources Conservation Service; UNL Nebraska Extension; Nebraska Game and Parks; Papio-Missouri River NRD; Upper Elkhorn NRD, Lewis & Clark NRD, Lower Niobrara NRD, and Lower Elkhorn NRD. The Wonderful World of Water was sponsored this year by: the Upper Elkhorn NRD; Lower Elkhorn NRD; Lower Niobrara NRD; and Lewis and Clark NRD.
