Sam’s venture, Reducing Flood Risk in our Community, has been affectionately nicknamed “the Flood Squad” by Compass students.
The project was inspired by a contest put on by Earth Force, an organization dedicated to increasing STEM skills, civic engagement and environmental motivation in youth.The Flood Squad is tasked with developing a proposal to decrease flood risk in their community. They have learned a lot about flooding—from experimenting on the permeability of soil with a soil infiltrometer, to conducting a neighborhood flood inventory of the Spring Creek neighborhood. They have since come up with three proposals: a community action campaign focusing on a North College neighborhood, an engineering plan to increase permeable surfaces around the school, and a presentation to 1,800 3rd graders during the Fort Collins’ Children’s Water Festival. In true Compass fashion, this venture is embedded with community partners—students have worked with representatives from FEMA, CSU Natural Resource students, and the Floodplain Administrator for the City of Fort Collins.
