Wonderful World of Water Program held in Pierce
The Wonderful World of Water Festival was held Wednesday, September 21, at Gilman Park in Pierce. Twenty-four teams of 9th and 10th grade students from 13 schools across Northeast Nebraska descended upon the park for a day of outdoor hands-on activities and a chance to vie for championship honors. Pierce’s Team 1 received 1st place in the competition, and Team 2 took 3rd place.
The day began with registration at Gilman Park followed by the teams competing in a track of hands-on activities focusing on water quality and other water-related issues. The teams were then quizzed regarding those sessions to accumulate points for the competition. Following the educational sessions, the teams were given one last chance to extend their point totals by participating in the Dripial Pursuit Trivia Game. Then while the final totals were being calculated, each team was given the opportunity to participate in the Wonderful World of Water special project.
The special project for this year was Water Rockets, which is a program taught through the Jr. Academy of Sciences. Each school was invited to build water rockets and demonstrate their knowledge of mass, velocity and engineering. The rockets were judged on distance and creativity. Several rockets were launched Wednesday with prizes being awarded to Allen High School for Farthest Distance Traveled; Winside High School for Shortest Distance Traveled; and, Niobrara High School Team 2’s Batman for Most Creative Design.
Following the presentation of the special projects, the winners of the 2016 Northeast Nebraska Wonderful World of Water were announced. The winner of Track 1 was Pierce High School Team 1 consisting of Samantha Svendsen, McKeilie Ziehmer, Macie Timm, Jakob Meier, and Jacob Pedersen. Receiving 3rd place was Pierce Team 2, comprised of Janae Arens, Kiley Bierman, Katrina Meier, Isaac Lambrecht, and Dylan Delka.
Schools participating in this year’s event included; Clearwater-Orchard High School, Niobrara High School, Santee Public School, Pierce High School, Elgin High School, Wausa High School, Allen Consolidated, West Point-Beemer High School, Winside High School, Ewing High School, Wynot High School, Madison High School, and Pope John High School.
Beth Walsh, Information & Education Coordinator with the Upper Elkhorn NRD, said, “The Wonderful World of Water program would not be possible without our many natural resources professionals from across the area who volunteer their time each year to share their expertise and work with students who might be interested in a career related to natural resources. They come from a variety of agencies including: The Natural Resources Conservation Service; UNL Cooperative Extension; Nebraska Game & Parks; Papio-Missouri River NRD; Lower Platte North NRD; and, the City of Pierce.” The Wonderful World of Water was sponsored this year by: the Upper Elkhorn NRD; Lower Elkhorn NRD; Lower Niobrara NRD; Lewis and Clark NRD; and NUCOR.
