Students learn about watersheds and pollution by using an Enviroscape. Photos provided by Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams.

News Release

WINONA LAKE — Last week, 524 fourth-grade students gathered in Winona Lake Limitless Park to study scientific concepts like erosion, watersheds, and fishing. Lake Adventure Day is a partnership between the Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams and the Grace College School of Education.

Isabella Guinta is one of the 17 School of Education seniors who lead one of the six stations during Lake Adventure Day. Guinta is studying Elementary Education and Biblical Studies, and she hopes to one day teach on the mission field.

This year, Guinta is teaching the watershed lesson alongside several freshmen college students. She and her helpers use EnviroScapes that simulate land around the lake. Students place models of trees and houses on the EnviroScape and add pollutants such as fertilizer and manure to the landscape. Students then have an opportunity to make it “rain” and make observations about how pollutants travel through the EnviroScape. Through this hands-on lesson, students learn that everyone lives in a watershed and that their actions impact downstream communities.

Isabella Guinta teaches her lesson.

“A memorable experience I had was seeing the spark of realization on a student’s face,” said Guinta. “It was amazing to see students understand that picking up their trash and taking care of the environment here in Winona Lake could have an impact all the way down to our oceans.”

Senior college students from the School of Education receive training from Lilly Center staff. They receive instructions on using unique tools like stream tables, EnviroScapes, and fishing poles.

During Lake Adventure Day, 17 senior students led their lessons with the help of freshman college students.

Their professor, Dr. Rachael Hoffert, is the Elementary Education Chair and has been part of Lake Adventure Day since its inception. Watching her students practice their teaching skills at Winona Lake is a joy for her.

“Through Lake Adventure Day, our senior students get practical experience developing their craft by teaching their lessons several times during the day. Their assistants, freshman students, help facilitate each lesson and do an amazing job! They look forward to teaching at Lake Adventure Day in a few years.”

The future of Kosciusko County’s lakes depends on empowering the next generation to be water literate. By equipping young stewards today, they can make positive choices for our lakes and streams for years to come.

Lake Adventure Day is possible thanks to a collaboration with Warsaw Community Schools, Lakeland Christian Academy, and Sacred Heart. Education programs like Lake Adventure Day are sponsored by DePuy-Synthes, City of Warsaw Stormwater Utility, Warren and Augusta Hume Foundation, Warsaw Optimist Club, and Zimmer-Biomet Foundation, and Runnings.

Learn more about how the Lilly Center’s award-winning educational programs are teaching water literacy to the next generation by visiting lakes.grace.edu/education.

Every fourth-grade student learned how to cast and fish at Winona Lake.