Leucadia Wastewater District board members April 9 join teachers and students who presented on projects funded by the district’s Teacher Grant Program. From left, Elaine Sullivan, board member; June Honsberger, La Costa Canyon High School teacher; Robert Pacilio, board member; Sarah McEntee and Madisyn Parady, La Costa Canyon High School students; Alyson Thile, La Costa Canyon High School teacher; Carrie Wilson Herndon, Encinitas Union School District Farm Lab; Nancy Jois, Capril Elementary School teacher; Capri kindergartener Mila and friends; Matthew S. Brown, board member. (Photo courtesy of Rising Tide Partners)
From kindergartners to teenagers, local students lined up before the Leucadia Wastewater District Board of Directors on April 9 to show what the district’s Teacher Grant Program has meant for them and their schools.
Capri Elementary School teacher Nancy Jois and three of her students told the board they completed clean water science experiments, interpreted the water cycle with song and dance, and even produced a video.
“Thank you for helping us keep our water clean,” said Mila, a narrator on the school’s Water Day video.
At the Encinitas Union School District’s farm lab, a teacher grant paid for a model resembling a supersized ant farm that uses colored dyes to demonstrate how liquids and chemicals can percolate through the soil and contaminate groundwater. Hundreds of fifth-grade students will benefit from the instructional tool, science teacher Carrie Wilson Herndon said.
From La Costa Canyon High School, 12th grade students Sarah McEntee and Madisyn Parady told the board that a grant-funded pollinator garden brings their classroom studies to life.
“Before it was all weeds,” Sarah said. “Today it has morphed into a study facility for our kids.”
The studies include counts of pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies that visit the garden, where the spring colors of native sage plants, lilac, poppies and verbena are on full display.
“To have it established right outside our classrooms is really amazing,” she said.
Board member Elaine Sullivan told the students she appreciated their presentations.
“You can come and share with us anytime,” Sullivan said.
For the annual Teacher Grant Program, Leucadia Wastewater District awards up to $6,000 for educational projects at campuses in Leucadia and portions of Olivenhain and south Carlsbad.
In addition to a check, award recipients receive a visit from Leucadia Wastewater District field technicians who demonstrate the workings of the equipment used to maintain a system that collects 4.5 million gallons of wastewater every day.
The 2024-25 grant recipients and awards include:
✔ Carrie Herndon, Encinitas Unified School District Farm Lab, $2,000 for a Ward’s Groundwater Simulator.
✔ Jacquelyn Street, La Costa Heights Elementary School, $900 for a literature, science, and art project to inspire environmental stewardship.
✔ Jessica Caldararo, La Costa Heights Elementary School, $1,400 for a kindergarten project on resource management and ocean pollution prevention.
✔ June Honsberger, Alyson Thile and Eden Borsack, La Costa Canyon High School, $1,600 for a pollinator garden.
✔ Katherine Oberman, El Camino Creek Elementary School, $900 for native plant garden, and Nancy Jois, Capri Elementary, $2,000 for kindergarten projects on the water cycle and water resource management.
Learn more at lwwd.org.
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