On June 16 Mitford Elementary School’s Grade 8 students hosted a confluence conference with special guest Brian Keating to teach those in attendance about the importance of conserving watersheds, both locally and globally.
Keating is an honorary conservation adviser with the Calgary Zoo and an adjunct assistant professor of anthropology for the University of Calgary. According to his website, he is a weekly guest on both Calgary and Edmonton’s CBC Radio, and for many years, was a regular on the Discovery Channel, using his own wilderness adventure and wildlife filming.
“The confluence conference was an opportunity for the students to reflect on a year’s journey. We had a theme of water in both science and social studies this year and we integrated it into our units,” said Janelle Phillips, one of the teacher organizers.
She explained the students participated in multiple field projects to get a first-hand understanding of the local watershed. For the conference, students prepared projects to present to Keating and others in attendance.
“Over the year, they gained an understanding of and an appreciation for water. The conference was a way to showcase what they had learned,” Phillips explained.
Phillips said she had attended multiple events where Keating had spoken and knew he would be a good fit to speak at the conference.
“We wanted to have a keynote speaker who would be engaging for both the students and parents and community members and we wanted somebody that had a big focus on conservation,” Phillips explained.
“I felt inspired to see such a focused investment of energy and time on the subject of water with these students. Water and our watersheds are critically important topics, and I was thrilled to be invited in to be given a glimpse into the complexity of their project efforts,” Keating said.
First Keating discussed his experiences visiting a remote location in Africa numerous times over the years during its peak dry season.
“Animals would come in the spring, located some 60 km from any permanent water to drink. The heat felt like we were living in a pizza oven, making the 3/4 km long spring of clear cool water a prime attraction for anything that walked or flew. The intensity of life was as if we were living within a National Geographic movie,” Keating explained.
He said he and his wife recognized water as the key component that connected all these animals and realized how important this reliable source of liquid is. He demonstrated his point by live-narrating a couple videos he shot and edited, from time spent in Africa.
“By highlighting their behaviour and ecological needs and their contributions, the students were given another viewpoint of the importance of watershed integrity from the animals’ perspective. Beavers were highlights too, as they are habitat builders, water purifiers, water-table 'inoculators', and water managers enabling a degree of drought and flood protection,” Keating said.
Keating was thoroughly impressed by the students’ projects “with many illustrating some creative possibilities for better watershed management.
“I hope more schools develop, taking the lead of Cochrane's Mitford School Grade 8 class, to create similar projects,” Keating said.
