Henrico graduate conducts environmental lessons at local school districts
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Hannah Szatkowski, a Henrico resident and rising senior at Marshall University, is using her knowledge as a student of environmental science to teach local Virginia high schoolers preparing for their own college careers.
Szatkowski belongs to the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Marshall, which maintains a focus on man’s interaction with the environment, according to its website.
Szatkowski, who has an inclination toward environmental education, said she began conducting various environmental lessons at local school districts in February. She has also taught at schools in West Virginia, she said.
“This came from wanting to make a positive impact on the environment,” she said of her task of teaching students lessons from the college point of view.
Her work took off in May following environmental holidays such as Arbor Day and Earth Day, Szatkowski said.
Szatkowski said her lessons in high school Earth and environmental classes began with Earth Day and its history. She incorporated college-style teaching in these lessons to provide a new perspective to students, she said.
Her lessons also covered pressing topics such as point-source and non-point source pollution.
“Point source pollution is something that we can point out, and we can tell exactly where it's coming from,” she said. “Nonpoint source pollution can be hidden.”
Szatkowski and the students used an EnviroScape education model to visualize how these types of pollution could originate in their own backyards, for example, through fertilizer runoff that can be transported into creeks or rivers.
Virginia's nonpoint source pollution prevention efforts are focused on managing nutrients and sediments because they pose the most significant threat to the health of state waterways, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
Szatkowski said the goal of her lessons is to promote environmental outreach within the local school districts.
Szatkowski will conduct lessons through the end of the 2021 school year, she said.
