Education leads to success

Excerpt

The quote by Pearl S. Buck at right-could have been a description of my grandfather, a first-generation Iowa farmer. I spent many days standing between his legs as he drove the old John Deere cultivating the unswerving rows of corn. There I learned about stewardship. Grandpa was one of the first in the county to put in terraces and grassed waterways and to build a sediment dam. He identified plants and animals, birds and insects, and taught me about our interdependence on each other. I learned hands-on about the importance of taking care of the soil, the water, and our other natural resources.

Most of today's children don't get the chance to learn about our world from a loving relative. Many are several generations removed from the land that still supports them. They are shown, but rarely become active participants in learning about their environment. And that becomes our children's loss as well as our own.

In this issue we have a story about the a children's groundwater festival. Through hands-on activities, games, and interactions these youngsters learn about the most precious resource of all—water. No …