High School, College Students Walk For World Water

PLEASANTVILLE-BRIARCLIFF MANOR, NY - From Pace University: Pace University in Pleasantville hosted the Westchester Walk for World Water on Saturday in partnership with the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF) Student Ambassadors. Participants included more than 100 Pace students, staff, faculty, community members and students from local high schools including Bedford, Eastchester, Irvington, Kent Place, Scarsdale, Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown and The Hackley School, including CELF student ambassadors.

Participants walked one mile with large buckets of water on their heads to demonstrate the trek that many women around the world make each day to collect water.

Westchester Walk for World Water, organized by the Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment at Pace University and CELF, was held to draw attention to the scarcity of safe drinking water around the world and raise funds to provide LifeStraw® Community filters to schools in need. While most of us are just steps to the nearest source of clean drinking water, in many parts of the world people (mostly women and children) walk miles to find water.

"CELF is thrilled to once again partner with Pace University on a student event that addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: the global freshwater crisis,” said Katie Ginsberg, Founder and Executive Director of CELF. "Just as we see young people across the country stand up and address societal issues, the CELF Student Ambassadors work to build awareness of the global fresh water crisis. We are so proud of them for speaking up and for contributing their talent and energy to the Walk. As high school students, they are already making an impact by educating their own communities about this crisis and enabling students in Kenya to have access to fresh water."

“Photos or stories of women and children throughout the developing world traveling miles for water, often of terrible quality, is not enough,” said Michelle D. Land, Director of Programming, Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment, Pace University. “Our water walk helps Pace students briefly experience what it is like to have to do this every day.”

John Cronin, Senior Fellow for Environmental Affairs, Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment, Pace University, delivered the keynote address, “Water, Water, Everywhere . . . and Nowhere.”

The walk recognized contributions of Patti Bressman, founding CELF board member and founder of CELF’s Student Ambassador Program (SAM).

Photo courtesy of Pace University