Through an anonymous grant given in 2022 in honor of the environmental work of Fred and Roberta McPherson, The Valley Women’s Club has been able to fund a Grant Program to support K-12 teachers in the San Lorenzo Valley who are working to provide educational projects for their students in the areas of environmental monitoring, data collection/restoration, science materials, or community/public education.

This year’s grant in the amount of $1,500 was awarded to two teachers, Hilde Largay, K-3 Science Coach at Boulder Creek and San Lorenzo Valley Elementary Schools, and Patty Hayes, Upper-Grade Science Teacher at BCE. The two teachers are coordinating an exciting project between both elementary schools in the Valley focusing on climate and weather monitoring, data collection, and analysis.   

This project will build four weather stations, two stations at each elementary campus. Two weather stations will use instruments for upper-grade students (3rd-5th grades). The other two will be built with instruments geared towards primary grades. Each station will include a rain gauge, anemometer, thermometer, windsock, sundial (3rd-5th grades), and an enclosed place for data collection.

High school students in David Grant’s Green Engineering class at San Lorenzo Valley High School will construct the basic structures, providing a great collaboration opportunity across sites and grades.

The weather stations will be a tool to teach environmental literacy and the relationship between humans and the natural world. On October 11, Sandi Clinton, chair of the VWC Educational Committee, met with the two teachers at the Boulder Creek campus, where they shared information about the project, saying, “Students naturally notice patterns and the effects of weather. The weather stations will allow students and teachers to use weather instruments to collect data, observe those patterns, and communicate their findings.” Weather stations on both campuses will make data collection accessible for all students and the community. Both teachers noted, “Next Generation Science Standards of California require students to collect, analyze, and share data. Weather stations are one way to accomplish this while connecting students with their environment.”