Freeport-McMoRan Foundation Sponsors First-Ever Sahuarita-Green Valley Water Festival

Nearly 450 fourth graders, 16 teachers and 70 parents from the Sahuarita Unified School District will participate in the first-ever Sahuarita-Green Valley Water Festival community event on Friday, May 16 at Sahuarita Middle School. This volunteer-driven event is part of the statewide Arizona Water Festival program, a month-long water science curriculum unit that begins with teacher professional development.

Approved by official proclamation from Mayor Blumberg and Governor Jan Brewer as an official Town of Sahuarita and State of Arizona event, the Sahuarita-Green Valley Water Festival is sponsored by a five-year grant awarded by the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation.

Working in partnership with Arizona Rep. Rosanna Gabaldón and Town of Sahuarita Director of Utilities Sheila Bowen, Arizona Project WET is working to rally the Sahuarita-Green Valley community to support and volunteer at this official state event. These volunteer activity leaders guide students through games, activities and questions that deepen students’ and parents’ understanding of Arizona’s water resources and how water on the earth system works. Interested volunteers can contact tsleeper@cals.arizona.edu for questions or register for the event.

The Arizona Water Festival program is a program of Arizona Project WET, which serves the state by promoting water stewardship and enlisting the community to help build Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) literacy. The program employs University of Arizona students and Americorps members as Water Educators who work throughout the year enriching water science education in Pima County through educational field trips to the Sweetwater Wetlands, in-class groundwater flow presentations, STEM-focused water conservation projects, and teacher professional development programs.

“The Arizona Water Festival program combines effective teacher professional development, direct student outreach that extends classroom learning, and community engagement,” said Director Kerry Schwartz. “Bringing these components together is the hard work that APW does to achieve STEM literacy and water stewardship education in Arizona’s communities.”

Arizona Project WET is a University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences program, which operates from the Water Resources Research Center (WRRC).