FHS “Stream Team” Wins Adelstein Award
In November, the Fairview High School “Stream Team” was awarded the Hope and Stanley Adelstein Student Environmental Leadership Award for Excellence by the Earth Day Coalition. The Stream Team is a group of FHS environmental science students dedicated to promoting the understanding that we are all part of a watershed and that clean water is essential to our region’s health and economy.
The Adelstein Award was given to the FHS Stream Team for their role in and commitment to the Coe Creek Streambank Restoration Project. This project, funded by a grant from Ohio EPA to the City of Fairview Park, was designed to resolve streambank erosion issues along a highly visible section of Coe Creek in Bain Park. As part of the project, the Stream Team was given the opportunity to collaborate with the City and its partners and take an active role in both data collection and the planting and maintenance of vegetation in the riparian zone along Coe Creek.
Most recently, the Stream Team collaborated with Fairview Park resident and landscape designer, Mary Alice Mastrovito, to plan and conduct a tree assessment and maintenance program in Bain Park. Students created a checklist of supplies and action items used to determine and address the needs of each tree planted as part of the streambank restoration project. The final project phase will be the installation of a permanent interpretive sign in Bain Park that has been designed by Stream Team members in collaboration with the FHS Art Department.
The Adelstein Award included a $1,000 check, which the Stream Team plans to use to implement environmental education initiatives throughout the Fairview Park City School District.
Julia Comerford & Colleen Sliwinski
Julia Comerford, a senior at FHS, plans to attend Bowling Green State University next fall. She is actively involved in many environmental initiatives.
Colleen Sliwinski is a Fairview Park resident and FHS science teacher. She is a board member on the Rocky River Watershed Council and an active member of the Fairview Park Green Team and Fairview Park Safe Routes to School Committee.