Organization gets state grant
WAYNESBURG – Pittsburgh Voyager, a non-profit, river-based environmental education organization that operates a fleet of classroom vessels on the region’s rivers, has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to expand Voyager’s mobile Community River Ventures program. The grant was presented by state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, during a program that was held Friday at the Greene County Career and Technology Center.
“I am delighted that we were able to secure this funding for Voyager,” DeWeese said. “This excellent mobile river environmental science program directly supports state education standards, and it is available to multiple school districts in a convenient location at Rices Landing here in Greene County.”
This program and its community-based river locations enable teachers and students from eight school districts in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties to participate in Voyager’s Community River Ventures. Representatives from various participating school districts, including Carmichaels Area, Central Greene, Jefferson-Morgan and Southeastern Greene, were present at the grant presentation.
“We are very appreciative of Representative DeWeese’s efforts to secure this important funding,” said Voyager Executive Director Karl A. Thomas. “Mr. DeWeese has been a long-time champion of Voyager and its Community River Ventures Program. We look forward to working with all eight districts this coming fall and to the opportunity of providing public programming during our stay in the community.”
The program also featured an overview of the Community River Ventures program and how districts can register their middle- and high school students. Community River Ventures is a hands-on experiential environmental science program.
Pittsburgh Voyager is a Pittsburgh-based non-profit science and environmental educational organization offering river-base educational programs for students, teachers, and the community.
The centerpieces of Pittsburgh Voyager’s adventure programs are two 80-foot, 70-ton retired U.S. Navy vessels and a 44-foot houseboat, docked on the North Shore, next to the Carnegie Science Center submarine.
Since launching its programming in 1995, Pittsburgh Voyager has served over 52,000 middle and high school students through one of its experiential river-based learning programs.
These students represent 200 schools from 65 school districts in 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh Voyager’s programs, which support Pennsylvania’s education standards, integrate a classroom curriculum (biology, chemistry, math and physics) with on-board programs.