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Drexel University Receives $22,828 EPA Grant To Teach 7th & 8th Graders About Their Urban Environment

Release Date: 8/2/1999
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

PHILADELPHIA -- The EPA awarded a $22,828 grant to Drexel University to set up an environmental education program for seventh and eighth graders who live in the city.

Under the grant, the college’s Center for Pre-College Science and Engineering Programs, will develop learning activities and experiments during the 1999-2000 school year that address urban environmental issues such as air quality, lead in residential paint, and urban land use. For example, during the summer of 2000, about 30 students will meet on the Drexel campus to plan measurements and observations that they can do in their own neighborhoods.

Student participants will be from public and non-public schools in Philadelphia and be selected based on recommendations from teachers and counselors and a brief essay about what they would like to learn about their own neighborhood.

"The goal of programs like this is to give students a better understanding of their environment as an interconnected system by getting them involved hands-on in gathering and analyzing data," said W. Michael McCabe, regional administrator for the mid-Atlantic region.

EPA’s education grant program is designed to stimulate grass-roots environmental education. In the mid-Atlantic region, 25 grant recipients include schools, civic groups and non-profit organizations. Nationally, $3 million was awarded in 1999.

For more information on this grant, contact Leo Essenthier at (215) 814-5732. EPA’s regional Internet home page also has general information on the grants https://www.epa.gov/region03.