Sounding an ALLARM: How Students Help Protect Local Waterways
click to view a video about ALLARM.
Video by Stephen Munchel
Program benefits environment, communities, students
Dickinson students are making measurable impacts on the environment—and sharing what they know. The undergrads are involved with Dickinson’s Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM). Founded in 1986, ALLARM partners with community volunteers across Pennsylvania and in parts of New York to assess the health of local waterways.
First, the students learn to collect and analyze water samples and understand what water quality means in terms of broader environmental health. They also learn how to engage and educate community members so they may also use scientific data to help protect and preserve local aquatic environments. “It provides an enhanced educational experience for Dickinson students to learn fundamental environmental, community engagement, science education, and nonprofit skills,” says Phoebe Galione ’21, who first got involved with the organization as an undergrad and now works as the organization’s outreach manager.
Then the students put what they’ve learned into practice, working side by side in the field with community volunteers to protect and preserve natural waterways.
“Being able to have these experiences where we train volunteers has been really impactful because I can see just how much we empower them to do great things with their environment,” says Kailey Sipe ’25 (environmental science) an ALLARM watershed coordinator. She adds that learning what other volunteers are doing to protect streams and the effects of this work on environmental policies has helped her think through how she’d like to create change as an environmental lawyer.
Uyen Bui ’27 (quantitative economics, biochemistry & molecular biology), also an ALLARM watershed coordinator, agrees that taking part in community-science events, including educational workshops for children, is a win-win.
“To be able to be a great scientist, I feel like it's not only about lab skills but also communication skills,” explains Bui. “ALLARM has really equipped me with those skills, as I have to communicate science information to people in the most simple and understandable way.”
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Published July 18, 2024