Texas River School, 2
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
The Texas River School, located in Austin takes kids in fourth through sixth grade, from under-served populations, on daylong river outings. Joe Kendall is program coordinator.
We teach them how to canoe, and we go down river to the mouth of Barton Creek, and float up the creek, and then take the kids to the Splash Exhibit so they learn how an aquifer works and why it’s so important to take care of it.
The Splash Exhibit is part of Austin’s Barton Springs Pool, named for the spring that feeds it. The school also teaches kids to snorkel to enrich the experience.
So, they hopefully can dive to the bottom of the pool and feel the source of the aquifer and understand that creates the pool, the creek, the river… So, they can get an appreciation of where the water comes from.
The program, which received a $30,000 outreach grant from TP&W is open to kids of all abilities.
We do the best we can. We took fourteen deaf students out canoeing yesterday. And then we have two trips with the blind school scheduled this summer.
Kendall says it’s not just important to get kids outside, he says it’s vital to help kids develop a life-long love affair with rivers.
There’s only one word that’s in more song titles than the word River, and that’s the word love.
Start your love affair with Texas rivers at passporttotexas.org.
That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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