EAC Photo: EAC’s Discovery Park Campus hosted the 2022 Eastern Arizona Science Initiative’s (EASI) High School “Sustainability” Camp last month. The camp included five local high school students working on a variety of projects that involved fostering long-term change to improve the natural environment.
THATCHER — EAC’s Discovery Park Campus hosted the 2022 Eastern Arizona Science Initiative’s (EASI) High School “Sustainability” Camp last month. The camp included five local high school students working on a variety of projects that involved fostering long-term change to improve the natural environment.
The camp was conducted by EAC associate professor, Ethan McBride, and Duncan High School sciences instructor, Becky Bell. The hands-on camp was designed to foster awareness and behavior change with activities and projects in the five major areas of environmental sustainability: soil, air, food, water, and energy. The students first learned about agriculture and plant life needs, then designed Hydroponic gardens – growing plants without soil – and moved on to creating an aquaponic system, where fish and plants thrive together in a safe and controlled environment. The students also participated in activities to better understand the energy power in wind using generators and fans and cooking with solar ovens, as well as other activities.
The ambition of the Sustainability Camp revolved around three major objectives: first, to identify and understand sustainability concepts, second, to engage the students in activities to see and visualize these concepts in the natural environment, and third, to learn how those daily actions can minimize our impact on our environment and conserve resources.
Paul Anger, director of EAC’s Discovery Park and chair of the EASI expressed special thanks to the United Way of Graham & Greenlee Counties and Freeport-McMoRan (for their support through STEM grants), and said, “This is an amazing camp opportunity that provides these students with knowledge that they’ll be able to use in careers and throughout their lives.”
For more information on the Eastern Arizona Science Initiative (EASI), EAC’s Discovery Park Campus, or tour information for the telescopes at the Mount Graham International Observatory, contact Anger at (928) 428-6260 or email: discoverypark@eac.edu, or go to www.eac.edu/discoverypark.
