PROGRAM FOR FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS AND STEWARDS (ProFESS)

ProFESS, formerly the Philadelphia Watershed Stewardship (PWS) program, is an initiative originally run in partnership with the Philadelphia Water Department to empower high school students to become environmental scientists and stewards. LandHealth supports students in ProFESS to become change-makers, scientists, leaders, advocates and stewards for a better tomorrow, through natural history, urban ecology, and watershed health. Centered in immersive, exploration-based learning--at-the-source--to better understand the plants, animals, soil, water, and air of our city.  ProFESS offers opportunities for students to share what they learn with community groups and the general public, becoming ambassadors for green spaces and clean water.

 

ProFESS started in Cobbs Creek, home to vibrant communities in west Philadelphia, its historically preserved hundreds of acres of open space offset by mass industrialization and modernization.  In Cobbs and citywide, our watersheds have suffered from hundreds of years of polluted storm water runoff, inadequate drainage systems, leaking septic tanks, illegal dumping, and other ills.  This is where ProFESS comes in!