MOSS POINT, Miss. (WLOX) – Derek Duckworth is a strong advocate for reducing water pollution. That’s why he’s traveled to Moss Point from Mississippi State University on Tuesday to show sixth graders how to make a difference.
“The biggest thing is just to move forward with the future of helping the environment,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth is helping Magnolia Middle School launch its Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience, teaching students about conservation, watershed management and stormwater runoff.
The initiative focuses on protecting Rhodes Bayou, which is behind the school.
“Watersheds are just multiple bodies of water that flow into one body of water,” Duckworth said. “If we clean this water, maybe it’ll help our next body of water like the Pascagoula River or the Gulf.”
Students are learning different ways to keep these waters clean.
Duckworth said this will help them to observe and address environmental challenges.
“Not only does this water connect to the Gulf of Mexico but at some point it becomes filtered out and it becomes drinking and bathing water,” he said.
Sixth grader Timothy Smith said it’s teaching him to be a game changer.
“I’ve learned about pollution and how runoff goes inside water sheds,” Smith said.
The program is designed to connect classroom learning with community-based conservation efforts.
Assistant principal Juanita Tolbert Cooper said it gives the students a sense of responsibility at a young age while enhancing their academic skills.
“If some of them want to go into fields where they can impact world change and give them some information on what they can do here as one small inch to make a big impact on the entire environment of Moss Point,” Cooper said.
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