Program for Future Environmental
Scientists and Stewards (ProFESS) 2021
ProFESS, formerly the Philadelphia Watershed Stewardship (PWS) program, is in its fifth year to empower 9th-12th grade students in Philadelphia to our next generation of environmental scientists and stewards.
ProFESS students met every Wednesday over the course of ten weeks from June 23 - August 25, splitting into their assigned watersheds...

Delaware Estuary and Cobb's Creek








NorthEast Philly Watersheds
Poquessing, Pennypack, and Tacony/Frankford
Wissahickon and Non-tidal Schuylkill




Students also had the chance to continue engaging in more learning opportunities...




ProFESS graduates joined staff and park naturalists from the Stroud Water Research Center and Marsh Creek State Park on a wonderful canoe trip across the reservoir in the rolling hills of north central Chester County!




ProFESS graduates also visited the Haverford College Arboretum and Farm, going on a plant walk; Farm Tour; Seed Saving Workshop; Environmental Justice Conversation
Highlights from ProFESS 2021
From our 2021 ProFESS Stewards
From blogs to poetry, ProFESS stewards all have their own way to learn. Check out some of their posts!
Lucas Basualdo
"I initially was not going to submit a final project due to a recent lapse in energy, but I realized the night of the deadline that this narrative is worth publishing if it positively influences even just one person.
For the past 10 weeks, of which I have participated in 8 meetings, I developed a deeper understanding of the interconnected nature of our city, its history and architecture, and the environmental and racial issues facing it. As much as these problems can only be solved by community action, individual drive is vitally important. Throughout those weeks I spent with ProFESS, my classmates often saw me with disposable gloves and a trash bag, picking up the abandoned litter at our various meeting spots. I enjoyed doing this, until I picked up trash at a spot I frequently passed by on my way to work. Seeing an equal amount of trash there, mere days after I spent hours cleaning it all up, was devastating. My message is simple: please, at the bare minimum, clean your own messes. The few who choose to clean up the messes of ours will never be able to do so with such frequency or ability as to negate the effect of those who choose to disregard their own responsibility.
We cannot survive in a world in which each person passes on his duty to his neighbor."
Julie Chen
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Michelle Tanujaya





Sponsored by Philadelphia Water Department
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