For six weeks 33 students from 10 different High Schools throughout the Cities of Los Angeles and San Fernando have been attended Agua University.  During these workshops the students were exposed to a myriad of speakers from environmental and social organizations; Sate and City officials; local agencies and educational institutions.  Topics covered at the workshops included: The science of water, water supply, water quality, land use and planning, watersheds, sustainability, and environmental justice.

The workshops tool a social approach to environmental issues with water at the core of our dialogue.  Agua University understood that first, we need to make environmental issues relevant to the student;’s local communities.  Only then, could we successfully be able to make the “big picture” connection and provide them with solutions to make a positive impact; locally, statewide and globally.

The workshops were interactive and engaging, especially our outdoor classroom instruction.  Our outdoor experiences included trips to the Sepulveda Basin,where we conducted water quality monitoring and a habitat survey as well as a river clean-up.  A tour of the Great Wall of Los Angeles on the Tujunga Wash, which was instrumental in making the social connections and to highlight the importance of art to the environmental movement.  And a trip to Proyecto Jardin, a community garden in Boyle Heights.  Here the students had an opportunity to learn about the importance of local agriculture and were engaged in conversations that will be useful to them as we move towards the future of local urban farming, “Agricology”.