Children's Water Education Festival

California Water Science Center Geologist Mackenzie Shepherd share drill shavings from groundwater well with a young student at the Children's Water Education Festival in Irvine, CA. 



On March 29th and 30th, two of our scientists participated in the Children’s Water Education Festival on the UC Irvine campus. Geographer Whitney Seymour, MS and Geologist MacKenzie Shepherd collaborated to make an interactive presentation to third, fourth, and fifth graders about watersheds and groundwater.

With displays and chairs set up under a tent in the pouring rain, class after class filtered in over two days to learn about water science through the 20-minute talk and activity. Whitney used a special map she created for the target audience, as well as a leaves and sticks to give students a hands on feel as to how water travels down a path to an outlet. Similarly, students were given the opportunity to touch and compare wet sand, clay, and dirt by handling the drill cuttings MacKenzie brought in.

This is the 26th year of the festival, in which the CAWSC has been a past participant. The awardwinning event is the largest of its kind in the United States and presented by the Orange County Water District (OCWD). By taking part, the CAWSC seeks to foster an early interest in water science, with the aim, in part, of creating more diversity among those one day pursuing a career in scientific research.

“The festival would not be possible without the participation of organizations like the USGS,” said OCWD President Cathy Green. “Together, with all our partners, we educated nearly 4,500 students about water and the environment. We are thankful to the USGS for its longstanding support.”