Congratulations to the recipients of our 2023 education mini grants - El Cajon High School, Fuerte Elementary, Lemon Grove Academy Elementary and Saint Kieran Catholic School. Each year, we offer a number of $250 mini-grants to schools within our service area for water-related programs and projects.
It won’t be long before our water supply and water quality will be in the hands of today’s students, which is why Helix seeks to introduce these topics in the schools within our service area. We want these kids to grow up to be stewards of San Diego’s watersheds and hope that our programs start them down that path.
El Cajon Valley High School’s Mr. Park (left) and Principal Stirling (right) receiving a mini-grant.
At El Cajon Valley High School, 10th and 11th grade students in Mr. Park’s class will learn how to design and build water filters and even design a desalination model. They will discuss different ways our water is filtered and the methods that are used. This grant will help purchase the equipment needed to build these filtration systems.
Helix Water District Board President Kathleen Hedberg (center right), awarding
a mini-grant to Ms. Miller (center left) and her students at Fuerte Elementary.
Fuerte Elementary will teach its students about water purification. Ms. Miller’s 5th grade science class will use their grant to design and build water purification units to analyze turbidity and water quality.
Helix Water District Board Member Mark Gracyk (center), awarding a mini grant to Ms. Tavizon (center right)
of Lemon Grove Academy Elementary. Lemon Grove School District Board Member Yajaira Preciado (left)
and Board Member Cheryl Robertson (right) were also present.
Ms. Tavizon at Lemon Grove Academy Elementary is using their grant to fund hands-on science, technology, engineering, art and math activities about water surface tension, liquid density, magnetism and capillarity.
Helix Water District Board Member Joel Scalzitti (right), awarding a mini-grant
to Saint Kieran Catholic School’s Ms. Riachi (middle) and student (left).
Saint Kieran Catholic School will be using its mini-grant for an outdoor compost tumbler and resources that will help educate its students on how to create nutrient dense soil from discarded organic materials. The students in Ms. Riachi’s class will use this soil for their garden, which houses native and drought tolerant plants.
Congratulations to our four mini-grant winners and their projects that bring water education into the hands of our future. We look forward to sending out applications for our next round of mini grants beginning in the fall of 2023.