What's Happening?
Schoharie River Center is poised to expand its Schenectady programming
As executive director of the Schoharie River Center, John McKeeby’s mission is to open young people’s eyes to the environmental conditions in their backyards.
Under his leadership, the SRC began running after-school programs in Schenectady schools in 2006, giving students a hands-on, ecology-focused education that emphasizes teaching youth to be good environmental stewards and improving the quality of life for city residents.
Currently, a small group of students are learning about this and plastic in a classroom at Central Park Middle School. They examine litter collected from the community - old water bottles, lids and food packaging.
McKeeby asks the teens to try imagining a world without plastic - and all the waste that goes along with it. “What does think globally, act locally mean?” he says.
Thanks in part to a two-year, $80,000 emergent needs grant from The Schenectady Foundation, the esperance-based Schoharie River Center is poised to expand its Schenectady programming. The funding will enable the organization to add staff and serve more students.
Eventually, the SRC’s Schenectady programming will be headquartered in a long-vacant building at Central Park. Plans call for transforming the building into an environmental education center in partnership with the city of Schenectady and other local stakeholders.
One student who has benefited from the Schoharie River Center’s programming is Donald Wiggins, a high school junior and community ecology intern with the SRC. Since the summer, the 16-year-old has been conducting water quality tests, hiking in local parks and studying aquatic macroinvertebrates through a microscope, among other things.
For Wiggins, working with the Schoharie River Center has been an eye-opening experience. “I didn’t know how much plastic was in the trash until now,” he said. McKeeby hopes raising awareness among youth like Wiggins will spark a desire for a cleaner, more livable community. “We want to get the plastic out of the water,” he said. “We want to help people feel more connected to the environment.
To learn more about the Schoharie River Center and its programs, please visit www.schoharierivercenter.org.
