Experience Lake Charlevoix 2008 - 6th grade Education Program

Experience Lake Charlevoix is an annual event sponsored jointly by Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council and the Lake Charlevoix Association. It is a two-day event during which we charter the Beaver Island Ferry boat and take all Charlevoix County Sixth graders out on the lake to learn first-hand about Lake Charlevoix. The 2008 trip took place May 20 and 21.

Our goal in sponsoring this event is to promote awareness and stewardship for our wonderful Lake Charlevoix and its entire watershed. Educating the next generation about the wonders of the lake and the issues that can threaten it will help to build a community of Guardians of Lake Charlevoix. - Being the Guardian of Lake Charlevoix is the vision of the LCA.

Each of the two days is divided into two, 2-3 hour sessions. Using this format, we take four different groups of students out onto the lake and can accommodate all of the students in one grade from each school in the county.

While on the lake, students move through many stations to learn about various aspects of water quality and monitoring of water quality. The following describes quite well the activities for the day. It is an excerpt from "7th Grade Learns to Test Water" by Caila Coale, Boyne Falls, from the 2007 Experience Lake Charlevoix.

"Once our boat stopped we began to go to stations. We went to each of the seven 15-minute stations. We got to meet the Coast Guard, learn of alien invaders, along with seeing the clarity of the lake water with Secchi disks. We also learned the hazards of dumping chemicals into water, and how it can contaminate the ground water, along with runoff into lakes and rivers. The pH is something we got to test. We found the pH of lake water and rainwater, along with other things mixed in with the water. What was really fun was seeing all the parasites and invertebrates that are on the bottom of the lake by sending down a machine that gathers the muck from the bottom and pulling it up."

Click here to see more photos and discussion from Experience Lake Charlevoix 2008 amd trips from years past.