April 9, 2018 / Modified apr 9, 2018 3:36 p.m.

Students Celebrate Santa Cruz River with Poems and Art

Pima County's Living River of Words contest inspired by visits to flowing river.

Santa Cruz flowing_hero The Santa Cruz River flows downstream of the outflow from the Agua Dulce wastewater treatment plant.
Sara Hammond, AZPM

Artwork and poetry inspired by the Santa Cruz River and celebrating the return of the native Gila topminnow is on display at the Wheeler Taft Abbett Senior Library.

Fifty-six winning entries from among 800 works submitted are part of the 16th annual Living River of Words Youth Art and Poetry Contest, part of a national program. The local event is sponsored by the Pima County Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation and the county's Regional Flood Control District.

Before putting pen or paint brush to paper, kids age 5 to 19 visit wetland habitats, in this case, a section of the Santa Cruz that is flowing. They do hands-on water-quality tests, observe wildlife and plants and take time to reflect and write in journals.

Back in school, the students work with local artists to work on their artistic creations.

In past years, the students often saw a dry riverbed, said Wendy Burroughs, the county's environmental education program manager.

Now that sections of the Santa Cruz are flowing, "we're getting images and poems that really are from an authentic experience by the river itself. And so they're reflecting on the sounds and the smells and the wildlife that they are seeing and the movement that's in front of them."

The Living River of Words exhibit will travel to other libraries throughout Pima County during the year.

Hear Wendy Burroughs read the grand-prize poem:

Arizona Science Desk
This story is from the Arizona Science Desk, a collaborative of the state's public radio stations, including NPR 89.1. Read more from the Arizona Science Desk.
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona