PPL Montana Helps Students Navigate ‘River of Words’

Children from Montana were able to join the thousands of students across the globe who explore their environment and express their discoveries through poetry and art in the River of Words International Contest, thanks to a program sponsored in part by PPL Montana.

PPL Montana awarded the Montana Watercourse and Montana Project WET a grant through its Community Fund Program to help the organizations lead teacher workshops and defray the costs of implementing the River of Words International Poetry and Art Contest in the state’s schools.

“PPL Montana is proud to help teachers implement a program such as the River of Words, which aims to get kids excited about learning and the environment,” said David Hoffman, manager-External Affairs.

River of Words is an international poetry and art contest focusing on the theme of watersheds, which are those stretches of high land dividing the areas drained by different rivers or river systems. The contest is designed to help students explore the natural and cultural history of the place in which they live and to express what they discover through poetry and art. The contest is open to any child, from 5 to 19 years of age.

The contest ran through the current academic year. This year, Mira Darham age 7 of Bozeman was a grand prize winner, and Jackson and Ella Darham, both 14, were art finalists.  Other Montana entries were also submitted by students from Ophir School and CPRDKIDS Afterschool program in Colstrip.

“Our goal is to turn River of Words into a statewide traveling exhibit that recognizes the artistic talents of Montana students and the inspirational power of water, nature and watersheds,” said David Hoffman, PPL Montana’s manager of External Affairs.

PPL Montana will promote the contest at the Montana Educators’ Conference in Helena and Glendive on Oct. 21 and 22 for the 2005-2006 academic year.

River of Words is a California-based nonprofit organization that has been conducting training workshops for teachers, park naturalists, grassroots groups, state resource agencies, librarians and others since 1995, helping them to incorporate observation-based nature exploration and the arts into their work with young people.