Turning Students into Environmental Stewards: Flint River GREEN Program Support

For over 20 years, Merit Laboratories has been a proud supporter of the Flint River Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) through a partnership with General Motors.  Merit donates laboratory testing services and sampling supplies for students to annually test local streams and rivers. 

Through Flint River GREEN, area students use scientific methods to test local streams and rivers, identify an environmental problem, research the causes of the problem, and work toward a solution of the cause. Flint River GREEN and the Flint River Watershed Coalition provide youth with educational opportunities to understand, improve, and sustain the water resources in their communities. The program empowers students to learn more about water quality within their watershed and use their findings to create lasting solutions. Schools throughout Genesee, Lapeer, and Oakland counties are involved in Flint River GREEN.

The capstone of the program is the GREEN Student Summit, which is scheduled for May 18th at Kettering University in Flint . At the summit event, students from across the watershed meet, present their results to one another, and attend various breakout sessions led by environmental professionals from a wide variety of fields. The summit provides students with their first professional conference experience, hones their presentation skills, and allows sharing of information from school to school. Teachers participating in the program are provided a classroom mentor to assist in monitoring and data interpretation, professional development opportunities, and testing materials. 

Please contact Maya Murshak at Merit Laboratories for additional information about the Flint River GREEN program.