Water. Access. Vitality. Education. Stewardship.
Creating future stewards of Lake Champlain
The health of Lake Champlain is an increasingly important issue for the community over the last decades. The Community Sailing Center acknowledges that the water quality of Lake Champlain, Vermont’s greatest natural resource, is compromised and its improvement is vital to the community and organization. Recreation-based environmental education is one of the many opportunities available to bridge people’s understanding of their personal impacts to the Lake’s health.
The Community Sailing Center has an experiential learning initiative for children and adults to enhance their connection to Lake Champlain. The WAVES initiative informs youth and adults alike about the exciting ecosystems of the Lake Champlain Basin through interactive science lessons and lake recreation. This type of hands-on learning and on-the-water activity engages and empowers people to become future stewards of Lake Champlain, improving its water quality by changing perceptions and behavior.
The goals of the WAVES initiative are:
- To educate adults and youth about basic ecological components of Lake Champlain and our role within the lake environment throughout all our sailing courses and camps each summer.
- To work with local schools in order to teach students about the importance of lake stewardship and ecology through hands on environmental education lessons that are accompanied by on-water recreation.
- To minimize our impact on the natural world by:
- increasing our recycling and composting efforts throughout the year
- minimizing our carbon footprint through staff transportation incentives.
Youth Environmental Stewardship (YES) Project
In addition to our school field trips and summer camp programs we also reach out to the community through the YES Project. This Project is designed to get students involved in healthy after school recreation and education. This project combines experiential learning, community building, and fun on the water after a day in the classroom. This program is five weeks long and occurs once a week. Students will not only participate in hands-on ecological lessons but also experience Lake Champlain from our keelboats, canoes, and kayaks.
