Alton, Ill. – Lewis and Clark Community College, the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will greet the 44 state winners of the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition for tours and hands-on activities beginning at 1:30 on Saturday, June 19.
The U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition is the world’s most prestigious youth award for water-related science. Each year, the U.S. national competition brings together some of the brightest high school students and their teachers from across the country who have a passion for water. Each student will compete to represent the United States at the international competition held annually in Stockholm, Sweden. This year the Missouri Water Environment Association is hosting the national competition in St. Louis.
The 44 state winners, along with their teachers, will be welcomed to a luncheon at 12:30 p.m. outside the Great Rivers Museum. From 1:30-3:45 the group will be provided tours of the Great Rivers Museum and Lock and Dam 26 as well as the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s Field Station. The NGRREC Environmental Education staff will also provide the students with a hands-on watershed research activity in a lab inside the field station.
“We are very excited to host these academically gifted students who are taking part in such a prestigious competition,” Rebecca Steiner, NGRREC Environmental Education, said. “Their trip to Alton will provide them with a relaxing excursion that will allow them to learn about the exciting water-related issues and conservation strategies being developed in Alton, near the confluence of three great rivers.”
Steiner said following their tours of the field station and the museum, the students and teachers will return to their conference in St. Louis where the national winner will be announced Saturday night. “The winner receives a $3,000 scholarship, a trip to Stockholm with his/her teacher, and a chance to win the international competition,” she said.
This year’s competition is taking place at the Sheraton in Downtown St. Louis June 17-19. The students’ projects will be on public display from 1-5 p.m. on Friday, June 18 at the Sheraton City Center. The competition is being sponsored by the Missouri Water Environment Association, ITT, The Coca-Cola Company, and Delta.
For more information about the group’s visit to Alton contact Steiner at 618-468-2874. For more information about the competition contact Stevi Hunt-Cottrell at 703-684-2454.