Year two of the B-WET grant program has been full of excitement. This year has been an extension of year one, engaging with local Newport News high schoolers, their teachers, and local environmental partners.

Through the Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, Museum staff and community partners are working with Newport News High School biology and environmental science teachers to give them the tools and know-how to combat any feelings of hopelessness about the state of the environment in their classrooms.

High school students from Newport News Public Schools have been assisting The Mariners' Museum and Park with a Mariners’ Lake restoration project called B-WET. Through this program, students gain valuable watershed knowledge and take an active role in becoming environmental stewards.

The goal of the B-WET program is to have students grow native grasses (Vallisneria americana) in the classroom and plant those grasses in Mariners’ Lake to help sustain the health of the Lake. During the year, students also learn about local Chesapeake Bay environmental issues and solutions, eventually leading to the creation of a hands-on action project to address a problem in our community.

The title of this work, “Marine Totem with Osprey Nest”, carries a reverence. The idea of a totem invokes a spirituality, rooted in the indigenous belief of humankind’s kinship with nature. More secularly, this concept describes something that acts as a respected symbol.

This particular bay watershed education and training grant, known as B-WET, is an environmental program for K-12 students that is focused on hands-on, place-based watershed learning. Our program works with 9th-grade high schoolers in the Newport News Public Schools.

The results are in on 3 ballot initiatives aimed to establish limits on the size and cleanliness of ships visiting the port of Key West, Florida.

The future of cruise ships in the world of Covid-19 may be on the minds of many citizens of port cities that welcome them.