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Windsor Strong Students Continue Community Study
Students in the Windsor Strong academy came one step closer to discovering how certain elements make a community strong after a pair of Q-&-A sessions.

The team studying how the environment can make a community strong sat with Chad Smith, the Director of Natural Resources Decision Support at Headwaters Corporation. Headwaters is a natural resources management firm with 20 employees working full time on the Platte River in Nebraska.

“I like to think I help people make good decisions,” said Smith. “I help find ways to use water while protecting fish and wildlife.”

The students have been gathering information about the relationship between communities and their environment in advance of their presentation Thursday, July 27. In addition to educating the students about his job he also had advice about how they should approach that presentation.

“If you’re going to take anything from me, ask yourself, ‘Why is this important?’ What message do you want to deliver in the end, and ask yourself why that is important?” said Smith.

Some of the students were impressed with how Smith and his company found ways to manage the environment to protect species, such as building sand bars to give animal eggs a better chance to be hidden in their environment.

“I think it’s cool to have the animal eggs blend in with the rest of the environment so that they could survive,” said Bryan Smith who is going into 7th grade.

The students studying the relationship between education and the environment interviewed Windsor Central High School Principal Jeff Salasny.

“Like Mr. Salasny said, ‘A strong school is a strong community.’ If you have different opportunities you can expand your mind,” said Kayla Dean who is entering 8th grade.

The students will present their findings at Binghamton University’s Downtown Center on Thursday, July 27 from 11am until noon.