Science Made Fun!
The Canandaigua Lake Watershed Education Program was created in 2007 to teach local students about the Canandaigua Lake watershed and its great importance to our region. The program aims to increase student awareness of water quality issues and empower them to become stewards of their watersheds through their daily actions. By introducing connections between human activity and watershed health, students gain a greater appreciation for their roles and responsibilities as citizens of a greater watershed community.
The Watershed Education Program has become a mainstay for the schools within the Canandaigua Lake watershed and for the community at-large. From pre-schoolers to adults, the program involves hundreds of participants every year in hands-on, engaging classroom and field-based lessons. Our educators continue to fine-tune existing programs in order to meet changing curriculum standards and the needs of the students we teach. The goal is to provide the best possible educational experience for students to learn about the importance of protecting water quality in the watershed.
We are proud to have over 23,000 student experiences since the program’s inception. Each year we strive to find new avenues of outreach, so this number only continues to climb. As a public service of the CLWA, the Education Program is free to schools and community organizations within the Canandaigua Lake watershed. If your classroom or organization would like to take advantage of this valuable and unique community service, please don’t hesitate to contact lead educator Lindsey Ayers.
We look forward to working with you! Also, please check out our Water and Wildlife Summer Camp page if you have middle school students! This is a fun-filled, hands-on, science based summer camp that your child will love.
About our Educators
Lindsey Ayers
Lindsey joined the watershed education program at beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, and shifted into the lead educator role at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. Lindsey earned her Masters at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. She served as an intern at CLWA, and joined the staff as Administrative Assistant in 2019. She loves spending time with her beautiful daughters Ayana and Allison, husky Leo, husband Marcus, other family and friends. She loves to hike, travel, garden, kayak, practice yoga, camp, read, create, adventure, learn, and just enjoy life to the fullest.
Lynn Occor
Lynn Ocorr is a retired science teacher after 32 years of coaching and teaching in catholic, city and suburban school settings. She is a contributing author of the New York State Middle School Core Curriculum Guide, wrote multiple environmental grants including one that sent her to the island of Antigua where she taught students and teachers about the impact of tourism on their island environment. She was a lead teacher as part of the Biochem Mentor Network and hosted multiple workshops through Wayne finger Lakes BOCES. She joined the watershed education program team in the fall of 2021, and we look forward to her growing role in the program!
Kathy Conezio
Kathy joined the watershed education program in November of the 2021-2022 school year. Kathy is a retired elementary teacher who spent the majority of her 40+ years in education working in preschool programs as a teacher, curriculum developer and Warner School mentor to preschool educators. She has been an adjunct professor for Early Childhood Education courses at the University of Rochester and at FLCC. Additionally, she has participated in grants from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education at the University of Rochester’s Warner School. During her most recent years of teaching, Kathy designed, organized and taught in a STEM Laboratory setting working with preschoolers through 5 th graders on a daily basis. Kathy and her husband enjoy traveling, hiking and gardening and have visited almost every national park in the US. They have seven children and twelve grandchildren, and enjoy spending every available minute with them.
The Watershed Education Program is Co-Sponsored by CLWA and the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council.
