Wentzville Students Participate in GM Green Youth Summit

Over 90 students from Wentzville Middle School met at the new Heartland Park recently to participate in a youth summit that showcased their efforts throughout the school year to address water quality issues and be environmental stewards.

The students worked with engineers from General Motors Wentzville Assembly to conduct water quality monitoring and use their findings to create solutions for vital water quality issues in the community.

“I learned that if there is not good water, then there would be less wildlife,” said Wentzville Middle School student Faith Potter as she reflected on the experience. “When my group cleaned the Holt campus, we found a lot of trash in the sewers – so litter is a big part of our water quality.”

The students tested creeks and cataloged the issues they found to determine areas where improvements could be made. Students then conducted research that resulted in action strategies to address the problems.

The GM GREEN program is a partnership with Wentzville Middle School, Earth Force, General Motors and the City of Wentzville that provides materials and mentoring for the student participants. Volunteers and participants alike had praise for the program.

“Every partner has a piece of the puzzle to make this program work,” said Kim Eckelkamp, Wentzville Middle School teacher. “From GM’s mentors and funding, the Earth Force curriculum, to doing things in the community with the City. Without each of them, this wouldn’t be possible.”

“It’s important for GM to sponsor the GM Green/Earth Force program because it helps to bring environmental awareness to our schools and communities, as well as helps empower students to facilitate improvements in their community,” said Courtney Tieman, Environmental Engineer for GM Wentzville Assembly.

Several businesses in the Wentzville community donated or discounted materials that were used to build many of the projects for the program including bird houses and rain gardens.

As a result of student efforts during this year’s program, the City of Wentzville created a Toss 10 on Tuesday Challenge which encourages community-wide litter pickup and the Board of Alderman was awarded a $1250 Earth Day Action Grant to come up with solutions to deter plastic bag litter and promote reusable shopping bags.