GALVIN science teacher Cynthia Fitzpatrick is this year’s recipient of the FOLQ’s Gertrude Spaulding Award. With her is FOLQ President Bill Conley.
Published in the November 21, 2016 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Friends of Lake Quannapowitt, at their annual fall Breakfast, presented the 2016 Gertrude Spaulding Award to Cynthia Fitzpatrick, Galvin Middle School science teacher.
The Gertrude Spaulding Award is given out annually to a citizen who has done extraordinary work in furthering the mission of FOLQ – “to preserve and enhance the waters of Lake Quannapowitt and its surrounding lands.”
Cynthia was lauded for her ongoing work in getting students involved in environmental science and relating that involvement to real situations in their immediate community and larger world.
In presenting the award, board member Karen Faler praised Ms. Fitzpatrick for her efforts over the past 20 years, in encouraging students to assist with spring and fall Lake clean-up events. Twice a year, Galvin students become the core of the lake clean-up effort.
Ms. Fitzpatrick was also commended for her role in the Watershed Awareness Program at the Galvin School. Every year, all fifth graders in Wakefield are exposed to two weeks of curriculum focused on the water cycle. At the conclusion of this special curriculum, students are taken on field trips along the Saugus River in Breakheart Reservation, where a naturalist guides them in observing nature and in conducting scientific experiences. FOLQ provides volunteer chaperones for these field trips.
Ms. Fitzpatrick recently initiated still another environmental program in which students test the water of Lake Quannapowitt for certain chemical properties. The results are then logged into a world-wide database created by young students around the globe who are monitoring their own bodies of water. This gives students a chance to get involved in the world-wide concern over the quality and accessibility of water.
As a part of the award, Cynthia Fitzpatrick’s name will be engraved into a brick to be placed in a special area in the flagpole plaza at Col. Connelly Park on Lake Quannapowitt.
Friends of Lake Quannapowitt is a voluntary nonprofit organization of several hundred members dedicated to preserving the environment of Lake Quannapowitt.
More information about the organization can be found on the website “folq.org.” and on Facebook “Friends of Lake Quannapowitt.”
