Piedmont, NC
Dates: March 2019-September 2022
Project Location: Educational institutions within the 10-county PCC region: Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Guilford, Orange, Person, Randolph, Rockingham, Wake
Purpose:
The Piedmont Conservation Council, Inc. (PCC) was awarded funding to expand the Bionomic Education Training Center (BETC) Program and to offer training for secondary school teachers and Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) educational professionals in ten counties in the Piedmont region of the state. Based on the success of the pilot program initially launched in 2010 in Durham County, the BETC program provided middle and high school students with a comprehensive E-STEM (Environment, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning via lessons in the classroom, community projects, work experiences for teachers and students, and opportunities for students to develop “green infrastructure” job skills.
The initial years of the grant funding will be focused on implementing a piloted and vetted four-day rain garden curriculum, which was created in 2016-2017. In the final years of the USDA-NIFA funding, work will focus on sustaining teacher training efforts and to introduce teachers and community members to other best management practices (BMPs) related to water quality such as cisterns, rain barrels, rain gardens and retention pond installation.
Teachers, representing the 10 PCC counties, will receive curriculum training and become North Carolina State University rain garden certified. Those teachers will deliver the curriculum and work with students to implement Stormwater Best Management Practices, such as rain gardens, cisterns and critical area plantings.
The goal was to expand the Bionomic Education Training Center (BETC) Program and offer training for secondary school teachers and Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) educational professionals in ten counties in the Piedmont region of the state. The BETC Program had three major objectives:
1. Provide agricultural workforce development training for youth.
2. Improve local water quality through implementation of rain gardens as a stormwater best management practice.
3. Increase E-STEM knowledge among low performing students attending low performing schools.
Partners:
Durham County SWCD
(co-investigators) Penn State University; retired STEM Educator
Funding:
US Dpt of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Quickfacts: (what makes project unique, accomplishments/results)
The BETC program has proven to be an effective E-STEM (Environment, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program resulting in successful community stormwater projects and green infrastructure job training for teachers and students in Durham County helping to create strong partnerships between Durham Public Schools. PCC worked to expand the program within the other 9-counties. Project accomplishments include:
- BETC Rain Garden lessons are now available on the Canvas Commons platform for any educators and students to utilize. This was prompted by COVID 19 but since it has been completed it has allowed teachers and students in the Piedmont region greater access to the program.
- 16 BMPs were installed in 7 PCC counties to support the curriculum.
- Chatham- one rain garden and one cistern
- Durham-two critical area plantings
- Guilford-one rain garden and one cistern
- Orange-two existing rain gardens where maintenance was provided
- Person-one two-tiered rain garden
- Rockingham-two rain gardens, one cistern and one critical area planting
- Wake-one cistern and one critical area planting
Images: Before & After
Map
Piedmont Conservation Council 