\n\tThey say you can\u2019t truly learn something until you can teach it\u2014but what about if you perform it? In the free K\u201312 program, Waterways Stage, students get to do just that. Since 2015, Very Merry Theatre, has teamed up with watershed groups to educate students on issues like plastic pollution, oil spills, nutrient runoff, and aquatic food webs. Scientists from the partner organizations plan lessons for classrooms that students then use to make their own plays about those topics. LCSG has been working with Very Merry since 2022 and this year, we were able to host the teachers involved on the UVM R\/V Marcelle Melosira.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe have been a program for a decade, and this marks our first ever Waterways Stage welcome \u2018in person educator experience,\u2019\u201d shared Lauren Larken with Very Merry Theatre. \u201cFrom the positive feedback I have received it seems that we will make a tradition in the future of fun opportunities like this to immerse ourselves learning in the elements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Monday April 14, the students were able to show off their plays at the Waterways Stage Festival in Burlington\u2019s Very Merry Theatre at the ONE at 20 Allen Street. Eight classes from four counties performed plays\u00a0whose topics spanned riparian buffer establishment, to plastic cleanups, to water\u00a0politics through a mythical fairy universe. The student creativity during the performances\u00a0was unmatched with interpretive dances, poems, and many songs including an original song \u201cI\u2019m Still Swimming\u201d in the tune of Elton John\u2019s I\u2019m Still Standing by a first-grade class from CP Smith.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe short plays defined key issues within a watershed informed by the experts at organizations like LCSG and solved the problem through collective actions like protests, cleanups, and educational information.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis was the tenth annual Waterways Stage festival and the biggest yet. With over 200 students and a full house of\u00a0attendees, the performances went for nearly two hours followed\u00a0by a sponsored pizza lunch from Leonardos and Pingala Cafe.<\/p>\n