Burien kids have been getting wet and muddy this fall, and learning valuable lessons about our ecosystem along the way. The Environmental Science Center (ESC) has kicked off the fall sessions of their Salmon Heroes program, which provides classroom and field study programs to local kids, giving them opportunities to investigate important environmental issues.

This year ESC’s Salmon Heroes program has benefited from a generous grant from Google, as well as other financial supporters. These grants will support them in their annual goals to close the opportunity gap for low-income students through environmental science field studies. Google’s regional charitable giving focuses largely on improving access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs and green initiatives. The ESC Salmon Heroes program is a unique fit, since it links the environmental and STEM fields.

“Students in the Puget Sound have a fantastic living learning lab right in their backyards,” said Darcy Nothnagle, Head of External Affairs for Google’s western region. “This program is a great opportunity for students to learn about STEM and the important role that science plays in the world around them.”

This fall, the Salmon Heroes three-part, five-hour program lets students explore the habitat and water quality that affect salmon populations, a keystone species for the Pacific Northwest ecosystem and economy. Students make scientific observations, use water quality tests to collect data on the health of local streams, and also get to study the anatomy of salmon through dissection. An ESC naturalist educator helps the class analyze and explain the data, and discuss possible solutions.

Cultural awareness and sensitivity contribute to the success of ESC’s programs. “This community’s diversity is one of our most distinguishing and valuable assets,” said Joanna Stodden, program manager at the Environmental Science Center. “We now have a number of young people who have completed ESC’s Junior Naturalist training who are now leading portions of the field studies, and helping to bridge age, language, and cultural gaps. It’s very exciting to start to see our own community making the leap toward greater access to STEM education as a result of these programs.”

The Environmental Science Center curricula was recently updated to align with Washington state’s new Next Generation Science Standards. This allows teachers to more easily envision how the Salmon Heroes program supports their classrooms’ curricula through the new standards. They now also provide resources for parents to continue stewardship discussions at home.

During 2015-2016, ESC will deliver 130 field study programs, serving at least 3,120 students. So far, for the fall 2015 Salmon Heroes program alone, they have registered 60 classes (grades 4-12), with 1,800 students and 9,000 contact hours.

For more information on these programs, go to: http://envsciencecenter.org/salmon-heroes/