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The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment

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Junior Monitor Ambassador Program

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Welcome to the Texas Stream Team Junior Monitor Ambassador Program! This program is designed specifically for eager budding individuals between the ages of 8 and 13 to get hands on water quality monitoring experience. 

 

Why a Junior Monitoring Ambassador Program?

Instead of barring minors under the age of 14 from participating in Texas Stream Team activities, we designed this Ambassador program to allow younger individuals to participate before they are eligible to attend a Texas Stream Team training. Our hope in this is to introduce younger participants to water quality concepts at a younger age and when they reach the age limit required to fully participate in Texas Stream Team activities, they will already be familiar with the protocols and concepts associated with monitoring events. 

Who Can Be a Junior Monitoring Ambassador?

This program is intended for any minor between the ages of 8 – 13. However, if your child is…

  1. A child whose family member is a certified community scientist;
  2. A child who displays interest in science;
  3. A child who is looking for a way to learn more about their immediate environment;
  4. A child who wants to get involved in volunteer activities and help their communities;

then they would be a great fit for this program!

Requirements

Unlike other Texas Stream Team programs, there is no official training session to attend to become an ambassador. This is because an ambassador will never be fully responsible for a monitoring event by themselves and will always be under the close supervision of a certified community scientist. To become a Junior Monitor Ambassador, participants must follow these steps:

  1. Connect with a certified community scientist. See the Frequently Asked Questions section below for guidance on connecting with a community scientist. 
  2. Attend 3 monitoring sessions (Phases) with a certified community scientist (preferably in consecutive months). A parent or guardian must be present for the entire duration of the monitoring event.
  3. Submit the completed Junior Monitor Ambassador Enrollment Form and photos of the corresponding monitoring forms via the below form. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Expand FAQ List

  • Texas Stream Team is one of the state’s longest running community science program and has trained over 11,000 community scientists and monitored more than 400 water quality testing sites in its 32 years of existence. Community science puts the power in individuals who may not have formal training or background in science to go out into their own community and collect water quality data. Data collected by community scientist is essential to fill the gaps of data collected by professionals and identify red flag warnings that they might identify in their results.

    While Texas Stream Team trainings are limited to individuals aged 14 and older, the Texas Stream Team Junior Monitor Ambassador Program still provides the same benefits to those who participate. Junior monitor ambassadors will still get hands on experience in water quality monitoring, and will become familiar with water quality parameters, concepts, and how the health of their local water bodies impact them and their communities. 

  • To pair your child with a certified community scientist, we recommend viewing our active Trainers page to see if there is an active group in your area. You can contact the Trainer directly to coordinate connecting with an active community scientist in their group.  A parent or guardian must be present for the entire duration of the monitoring event.

    If there are no active groups in your area, Texas Stream Team may be able to help find the nearest active community scientist to you. This also presents a wonderful opportunity for a parent, guardian, grandparent, or other family member to become a certified community scientists and spend time with their child/grandchild/sibling in nature and do something for the benefit of the environment together. 

  • A monitoring event may look different every single time. Community scientists who monitor with an ambassador will receive guidance on how to involve an ambassador in their event, but it is up to them to decide what and how they want to include an ambassador. Guidance is based on the child’s age and grade level.

    For example, a community scientist working with a very young ambassador may allow them to complete the environmental observations and allow an older child to assist in bucket grabs and the pH test. However, it is completely up to the community scientist’s discretion as stated above. All activities conducted by the ambassador should always be quality controlled by the community scientists. 

  • Monitoring almost always take place outdoors, unless there is a situation where a sample is taken and then transported to be tested indoors. Please bring the following to monitoring events, as well as other items that you may need to ensure that your child is comfortable in the conditions they will be working in:

    • Hat
    • Sunscreen
    • Bugspray
    • Water
    • Field Clothes (This will depend on the conditions your child will be monitoring in. We always recommend wearing close-toed shoes or water sandals, but if the monitoring site is surrounded by tall grass or plants, we recommend wearing long pants)

  • No. If your child is currently under the age of 14 but has already completed a Texas Stream Team training, is actively monitoring and reporting data, they will still be allowed to conduct monitoring events following the guidelines for minors. 

    However, if your child is currently certified but has not been actively monitoring for a year since their certification date, they must attend a Field Audit session to refresh them on procedures and ensure that they are adhering to the Quality Control checklist.

  • If you would like to become a certified community scientist after turning 14, all you have to do is register for a training! To find a training near you, please visit our calendar or reach out to your local trainer to see when the next public training session will occur. 

  • We understand that you may be hesitant to include a minor in your regular monitoring events. However, in doing so, you are helping to usher along the next generation of community scientists and educating young participants about the importance of water in Texas, and how to protect our limited resources.