EAST ALTON – The Lewis and Clark Community College Foundation has been awarded a $17,850 Water and Environment grant from the American Water Charitable Foundation to support Waterschool Summer Programs at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC).
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The grant will help NGRREC provide 27 free youth program days from May through August 2026, reaching approximately 130 students from Illinois American Water communities in the Metro East and Mississippi River confluence region. Project planning for the 2026 summer season was coordinated by Jolena Pang, Waterschool USA Program Manager at NGRREC, who submitted the grant proposal on behalf of NGRREC in collaboration with regional education, river recreation and youth-serving partners.
Waterschool Summer Programs connect youth with the Mississippi River watershed through hands-on water-quality monitoring, stormwater and green infrastructure investigations, river and wetland field studies, wildlife education, and stewardship activities. Support from the American Water Charitable Foundation will cover direct participant-facing costs, including meals and snacks, transportation, field supplies, live native wildlife programs, and professionally guided River Stewardship Paddles on the Mississippi River.
“Waterschool helps students understand that the river is not separate from their daily lives,” Pang said. “This support from the American Water Charitable Foundation allows us to remove barriers like transportation and meal costs while giving students access to real field science and safe, meaningful time on the water.”
The 2026 summer schedule includes five four-day camps, two two-day intensives and one three-day intensive. Partner cohorts include SIUE East St. Louis TRIO Upward Bound, Lewis and Clark Community College TRIO Upward Bound, L&C YouthBuild, L&C College for Kids, Madison County Regional Office of Education, and Brand New Village/YWCA Southwestern Illinois.
River City Outdoors and Big Muddy Adventures will support the guided river experiences, providing trained guides, safety briefings and oversight, and equipment for on-water learning. Additional partners will help connect students with local water systems, native wildlife, restoration ecology, and environmental career pathways.
Each camp and intensive will culminate in a guided River Stewardship Paddle that combines on-water recreation, ecology interpretation and a structured shoreline cleanup. Students will also share what they learn during five non-fundraising Student Showcase Nights, where families can view water-quality results, watershed maps, field journals and stewardship outcomes.
The American Water Charitable Foundation’s Water and Environment grant is part of its Keep Communities Flowing Grant Program, which focuses on Water, People and Communities and supports eligible organizations in communities served by American Water.
For more information about NGRREC education programs, contact the NGRREC Education Department at NGRRECEducation@lc.edu.
National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC)
Founded in 2002 as a collaborative partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lewis and Clark Community College, NGRREC is dedicated to the study of great river systems and the communities that use them. The center aspires to be a leader in scholarly research, education, and outreach related to the interconnectedness of large rivers, their floodplains, watersheds, and their associated communities. To learn more about NGRREC, visit www.ngrrec.org.
