On Friday, June 14th, ALLARM staff Jules Vastine (ALLARM director), Isabel Ruff (Volunteer Monitoring Specialist), Crosby Wilkin ‘26, Uyen Bui ‘27, and myself embarked on a three-hour road trip to Susquehanna County to visit ALLARM’s Northern Tier Stream Team for their third in-person training. The training began the following morning on Saturday, June 15th where we were greeted by Nate Harpster (Watershed Specialist) and Jeremy Leaidicker (Master Watershed Steward Coordinator) at the Susquehanna County Conservation District. The purpose of this training was to teach new volunteers in the area how to use ALLARM’s Stream Team kits to monitor their local waterways and to to check-in with seasoned volunteers in how their monitoring was going.
Before the training, my colleagues and I prepared by familiarizing ourselves with the ALLARM Stream Team equipment, and by practicing speaking and acting out the different parameters together in order to effectively facilitate the learning process for attendees. During the in-person training, Jules Vastine and Isabel Ruff provided introductions to ALLARM, explained community science, discussed the background of ALLARM parameters, and more. Following this, we divided into groups to train the volunteers on how each element of the kit was used. Jules Vastine and Uyen Bui ‘27 led one group, while Crosby Wilkin ‘26 and I guided another group of volunteers. A highlight of the training for me was testing water clarity. Looking into the turbidity tube, some volunteers spotted the Secchi disk amidst turbid waters, while others did not. For Crosby Wilkin ‘26 the training was exciting as he “was really impressed by how quickly the volunteers picked up the parameters” and that “they made sure not to give the others in a group bias by giving out their answer too quickly during pH testing.” In all, this experience underscored for me the diversity among monitors, each bringing different perspectives and backgrounds to water monitoring.
After wrapping up the training, we loaded up the ALLARM van and made a stop at Salt Springs State Park before returning to Carlisle. During our time there, we took a moment to reflect on what we had learned from the event, discussing any lessons learned, and sharing our personal highlights—a valuable part of the ALLARM experience! Overall, I enjoyed getting to know the Stream Team volunteers in the Northern Tier, and I look forward to reconnecting with them in the future, whether through another in-person or virtual training, or during a data upload meeting.
