EcoSpark executive director Paul Mero said he gets a lot of enjoyment out of seeing kids experience local aquatic wildlife.
The Toronto-based environmental charity has run the Changing Currents program since 1996, taking kids and adults alike out to local waterbodies to learn about all the life teeming beneath the surface.
Bringing that to Newmarket and York Region schools in recent years has gone well, Mero said.
“My favourite thing is watching kids who are kind of distracted, and then you got five of these buckets on the ground, and you got five kids at each bucket, and they’re all intensely focused,” he said .”It’s almost like they forget they have phones, and they’re just totally absorbed.”
The charity celebrated a successful four-year run of the program with a provincial grant boost June 19. Receiving $151,400 since 2020 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the organization used the funding to help expand the program through partnerships with nine schools throughout York Region.
“It’s been really helpful in helping us build the relationships that let us grow the program,” Mero said.
The provincial government and the charity held a news event outside of the Magna Centre to recognize the program. Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy said programs like this help drive positive change in the community and for local ecosystems.
“This three-year grant is enabling them to expand their educational programs into more schools across York Region,” she said. “Empowering over 1,500 students to become active, environmental stewards through hands-on science education.”
The program takes participants out to a local body of water. Kids get to get a look at the creatures that live in creeks, marshes and streams and learn about what they can say about water quality and biodiversity.
Mero said the sessions engage students in real science, which significantly impacts their education.
“Deepening their learning and expanding their understanding of the environment and strengthening their connections with nature,” he said, “that’s a real challenge right now. Students are often feeling anxious and detached, and so getting them outside really helps them with mental health.”
Ontario Trillium Foundation volunteer Richard Farmer said Mero has made a strong case for a program like this that gives young people opportunities to become more connected to their local environment.
“Thank you, Paul and the team at EcoSpark for coming to OTF with your vision and bringing your experience and commitment to the table every single day, enabling Changing Currents to take root and grow here in York Region.”
EcoSpark environmental education co-ordinator Sara Kuruvilla said she loves to work with students from low-income neighbourhoods with limited exposure to the outdoors and seeing their initial reaction.
“Everything is gross to them, there's mud, there is dirt, there is bugs,” she said. “It’s really a highlight to see some of them, at the end of the day, they really step outside their comfort zone and they’re actually in it, they want to touch the bugs.”
The grant is wrapping up, but Mero said they hope to continue the program, using partnerships they have built with schools.
”We’re building more of that reputation and we’re hoping that we’re going to expand to more schools and more students,” he said.
