Greenhill Alumni Help Fifth Graders Learn to Be Water Wise

On Tuesday, May 24, Greenhill alumni from SMU and UNICEF returned to campus to share their knowledge about clean water with Greenhill fifth-graders.
 
Jassem Setayash ’14, president of the SMU Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and several of his SMU classmates led the students through a series of four activities to help demonstrate the types of work that their organization performs around the world. The first exercise was a water testing activity, to analyze the types of materials present in local stream and creek water. Students then learned how to filter water using an empty two-liter bottle, paper towels or coffee filters, cotton balls and rocks or gravel. Students also played a game that involved transporting water quickly and listened to a presentation about the EWB’s current project to establish a sustainable water storage, treatment and distribution system in Llojilla Grande, Bolivia.
 
In the afternoon, Hannah Wright ’10 with UNICEF led the students through a Water Walk around campus, simulating what some communities endure to have drinkable water. Students carried buckets of varying sizes, some of them sharing the larger, heavier buckets, with water frequently splashing out around them. Dripping wet and out of breath, students had a new appreciation for water faucets and drinking fountains when they returned to their classroom building.
 
The interdisciplinary day of study incorporated math, science, cultural studies, history as students related their work to previous study of the Euphrates river in Mesopotamia and Ancient Rome’s need to import water via aqueducts, and current events via Problem Based Learning activities about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
 
Fifth-grade teacher Matthew Giorgio shared that he hoped that by placing themselves in the shoes of others, students learned to have compassion for those around the world without easy access to clean water, as well as the fact that even as fifth-grade students, they could do something to help conserve water.
 
To learn more about Engineers Without Borders SMU and their project in Bolivia, CLICK HERE. To learn more about UNICEF’s Tap Project to help raise funds for children without clean water, CLICK HERE.
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