Latest / Clean Water Conversations / Episode 12 with Matt Royer and Cathleen Anthony

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Episode 12 with Matt Royer and Cathleen Anthony · Clean Water Conversations

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_04: Hello everyone and welcome to Clean Water Conversations, the podcast where we have casual discussions about creating clean and clear waterways right here in Lancaster County.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Ken.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_04: Hi, everybody.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Allison.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_04: Allison, we have a big celebration.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: We do?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_04: We do indeed.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_04: We hit a thousand downloads.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: You all had no idea that there was a live audience.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there you go.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_04: And we thank the live audience and we thank you for tuning in for downloading.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_04: It is awesome.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_04: And we are so glad to be doing this for you.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the beginning of our list of awesomeness, so many things to celebrate.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: And we are just really grateful for the way that you, as partner organizations as and as listeners, are participating in creative ways across Lancaster's clean water work.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: So a few of those to give some shout-outs.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: We have two municipal liaisons that have started work kind of like a side gig, adding in additional capacity to work with municipal staff, really in a listening way, a listening capacity.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not technical work, it's just the people people.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: So you'll be hearing from Ben Weber and Terry Martin in the upcoming months.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: But you can what's awesome in your world?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_04: Fake magazine.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: We are in the fall edition, and we have a little, we have a page there.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_04: And we're we're talking about uh the ripple effect and how what we do affects more people down the line and how what they do affects more people down the line.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: And it's uh it's a neat concept and it really pretty art.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, the beauty in that issue with the color transitions and the creative expression theme that they have, it's it's just beautiful.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: So another piece of beauty in our world of collaborative work and clean water is our action teams.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: There are so many of them happening recently.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: We got to be out in the field today with a tour, a lunch and learn out at the Longs Park Wetland project.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: The communications action team got together for a great session today where they got to be together and sharing progress and talking about what's coming up next, coordinating schedules and listening for new techniques from each other.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: The water quality monitoring action team heard from Dustin Scholl at the Department of Environmental Protection here in late August.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: And our buffer action team is meeting in late September.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: So being out in the field, again, hearing from each other about best practices, but also how are we looking with the numbers?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: When we talk about metrics and number of acres we're trying to get to, in order to reach that big shared goal of clean and clear by 2040, we got to take it one bite at a time.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: So just a small snapshot of the awesomeness happening within the action teams.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_04: And speaking of teams, how about Segway?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_04: How about that?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_04: Today we are talking about Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_04: And we have two guests, Matt Royer and Kathleen Anthony.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: They make a great team.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_04: They do.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they are just a few of the people involved in the academy.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: So really excited to have them here.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Matt Royer is the director of the Agriculture and Environment Center with Penn State.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: And Kathleen Anthony is the Pennsylvania Projects Coordinator with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: She is a graduate of the most recent Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy, and Matt is my co-director with the Academy.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: They are fantastic guests and have lots to share.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: So let's go.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_04: Let's hit it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: So, Matt, I'm I'm I'm kind of curious.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like, where did you where did you grow up?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: Are you from Pennsylvania?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm from, I am not from Lancaster County.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just across the creek, though.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: Grew up in on the banks of the Cottawaga Creek in Dauphin County on the Dauphin County bank.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: But right across the other side, we actually had a little strip of land on the edge of our farm in Lancaster County.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I grew up on a small farm.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: We we we raised chickens, the small poultry farm, about 20 acres.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, kind of my family has been in the area for multi-generations.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: We can trace our roots to Sebastian Royer, who settled in northern Lancaster County in the early 1700s.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_04: Didn't didn't uh didn't travel very far from from the roots then.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_04: That's cool.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_04: And Kathleen, you're from Maryland, right?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Aggressively so.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's how I introduced myself at the academy.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But um born and raised in Maryland, and that was kind of maybe an accident of kind of how my parents ended up in Baltimore, and they never really thought about where they wanted to live because they were from New York and Michigan.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, but now I'm, you know, I was born there.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm very passionate about it.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And did some traveling in my 20s, so New York, Colorado, stuff like that, and decided mid-Atlantic was was the place for me.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so when I came back to Maryland for a bit, again, mid-20s, and then the gig brought me up to Pennsylvania.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I still have like my Pennsylvania license plate is of course PA, but I have a Maryland flag license plate frame, which my fiance says is blasphemous.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: So oh no.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Your family standing proud.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's just we're very into the flag.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's very exciting.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm imagining then like growing up around the bay, that's what really kind of got you into the conservation world.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I think a lot of the curriculum in Maryland is just very easy to build around the Bay and that kind of stuff.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I was also a recipient of a lot of like the Chesapeake Bay program stuff when I was a kid or the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a lot of their educational initiatives, including, I think in middle school, we did a week, I was in a week-long program that went to Smith Island.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I got to do what we then did later at the academy, but at a different location.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_04: It all comes back to Smith Island.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great place.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Very formative.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_04: Uh how about you, Matt?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: What what got you into uh conservation?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um you grew up on a farm, obviously.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just growing up so close to the outdoors.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: We also had still have a a family cabin up in north central Pennsylvania and Cameron County on the trout stream.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so just kind of growing up from a very young age.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: I was I always said I was like a creep kid.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: I was the kid who got yelled at when I came home because I was always wet.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Slaying in the creek or accidentally falling in the creek or chasing crayfish and that kind of stuff.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: You did air quotes on the accidentally, didn't you?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I did.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_04: I'd have done the same thing.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_04: I love it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: Let's find out a little bit more about you both in kind of a an icebreaker-y kind of way by why not doing an icebreaker?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_04: So your icebreaker question.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: If you were running in Miss or Mr.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: World, what would your talent be?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know about how easy this would be to demonstrate in in like a on stage situation.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm really good at emails.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's it's a point of pride how I organize emails, I work through emails, I stay in communication with people.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good that I was hired to do some of that.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but also it's it kind of floors me whenever I see like colleagues and partners and like, oh, I'm drowning in emails.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh, that sounds actually kind of fun.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can work on that.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so again, I don't know how I display it to win anything, but I have discovered over the last few years that I'm just very, very good at them.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: I remember now you talking about your inbox.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, wait, what?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's possible to get to the end of your inbox?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And my inbox I I empty it like weekly.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And is maybe I'm like a little too uptight, but still like I never miss communication, hopefully.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And may I mean maybe I'll get a lot of feedback from this people like you did not email me back.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_04: You were saying that uh picturing people listening to this podcast with their jaws on the ground is like, uh I feel like I need to apologize now for all those who are sitting in my inbox.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_04: A couple of those are from me, by the way.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: How about you, Matt?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: What would your your talent be?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: Well, so I think I could set this up on the on the stage pretty well.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: I am I am really good at folding the family laundry.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I, you know, that's that's my thing.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of my zen time.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: Put a Eagle's Eye podcast in or catch up on the latest Penn State football news.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, each each family member has a certain section on the on the bed, and the bed is like at a perfect perfect height.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: I don't have to bend down at all, like right, right there.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, certain certain t-shirts, depending on if it goes in the old t-shirt drawer or the new t-shirt drawer, it gets folded a little different way, and it would it would probably amaze the uh judges, yeah.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, I I do have a follow-up question though, is how do you how about fitted sheets?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, does that fall in the same category?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I the sheets, no, no, no, the sheets I don't I don't know how to handle those, Catholic.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: I generally just on the bed and never get folded and they just get put right back on the bed.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm still figuring that one out.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_04: So I that's great.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my goodness.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_04: But we're talk we're we came together to talk about Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy and folded sheets apparently.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um so the we're coming up on another year of the Leadership Academy, and the deadline to apply is October 4th for applications and nominations.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: Excellent.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_04: So if you want to do that, we're here to tell you a little bit more about what that's about.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_04: Matt, you're one of the founders of the curriculum.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_04: First off, what is the purpose of Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: So the Academy is really a uh adult learning opportunity for a variety of different individuals and sectors that are interested in watershed issues and becoming a local leader in watershed restoration initiatives.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so the thought is that we would develop and deliver kind of a blended curriculum that is a combination of leadership training and kind of substantive watershed management, um, science-based and kind of applied management information about how to restore our local watersheds.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: Real real focus here it is the Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: So we have a focus on uh studying and learning about the communities and the watersheds in Lancaster County and kind of building the leaders of efforts to restore our watersheds, the leaders of tomorrow.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: So that's really the purpose of the academy.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_04: So, what does that look like in a practical week-to-week, day-to-day sort of thing?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: What can uh new scholars expect?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so working with with Allison and Cleanwater Partners, as well as their definitely need to give a shout out to the Rural Urban Leadership Institute at Penn State that's part of Penn State Extension and JD Dunbar and Tara Homan, they've been delivering that program for over 25 years in in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: And really, kind of it was from working with them that was the inspiration for this and seeing just great job that they do to develop leaders across the Commonwealth through that program.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, the thought was kind of blending this with watershed, kind of substance of watershed management science and experience.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, what to answer your question, what scholars scholars can expect is you know, the program is a is a year long.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: We actually kick it off with kind of a kickoff dinner the late in the year before the start of the calendar year that kind of dictates the the cycle.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: So we're we're moving into the next academy, which will start in 2025, but we'll have kind of an initial kickoff dinner just just before the uh holidays this fall.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then scholars can expect, you know, to put some time into this.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: We have day-long sessions that will meet on Saturdays.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of our scholars have full-time jobs or you know, busy with other things during the week.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: Some could be busy over the weekend, but the idea is that you would commit to these weekend sessions basically once a month, starting in January.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: We take a little bit of time off for the summer, although we are our scholars do integrate and participate in a variety of water week events in in June, um, and then kind of back at it in September with a capstone trip, a weekend trip down to one of the education centers on the Chesapeake Bay, you know, working with a lot of Allison's former colleagues there at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation education program.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: There's you know several different projects and homeworks, and we have an action project.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of different kinds of deliverables, if you will, that kind of meet the learning objectives.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then we do sprinkle some short, like, you know, hour, hour and a half long, like week, weekday, evening, online learning sessions as well.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Matt.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm curious because I was doing the rule program at the same time as the first class of the Lancaster Academy.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: So when you and JD and Tara were talking about this idea of kind of blending those or modeling one, what were some of the challenges that you faced with the idea of getting the Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy off the ground?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, great question.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely had some challenges, but it was kind of working together with them, exciting to try to kind of work together and work work through those.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: So a couple of the challenges just logistically, we really wanted to have a place-based aspect to to what we did.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um and it you know, the other the other major challenge, the rule program is a two-year-long program, you know, that spans locations across the Commonwealth.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: So here we wanted to kind of truncate some of the curriculum into kind of a single year, not to you know, make this uh too long of a commitment timeframe for for scholars.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, working through uh uh the existing framework of rule, which set forth a lot of great ideas and uh study opportunities around exercises, around leadership development, we kind of brought a lot of the core aspects of that and then built a framework around that where we were thinking about the flow.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I think, Allison, you had a lot of ideas around this as we started to build that initial curriculum, kind of starting in the in the headwaters and kind of moving, moving downstream.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so we we visit a variety of different watersheds in Lancaster County and learn about the communities and some of the challenges and issues across the uh you know variety of different landscapes that we have in in Lancaster from you know agriculture and and rural to suburban and urban to that you know very blend of mixed use uses that we have that's that's unique to the county, and then working the whole way down to that mainstem Susquehanna, all the way to the Chesapeake Bay.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: So um, we were able to develop, I think, a pretty neat curriculum in terms of you know, each each full-day Saturday session, we're in a different location, we're learning, we're meeting new partners, we're learning from them, we're tapping into the existing and growing Clean Water Partner Network so that scholars are learning from folks that are doing this work right on the ground.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Matt, I'm curious, um, because of the Lancaster version, you guys wanted to model it after the statewide elements of rule.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: What were some of the concerns about potential duplication?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is intended to cover Lancaster specific topics, but how did you how did you plan?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: How did you anticipate the creation of things like the curriculum or the site selection so that there was not a duplication of another existing program?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I think there's a couple other programs that are out there, and uh, we really were kind of intentional about making this kind of a unique program that was a blend of of aspects that you know maybe other programs don't offer.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, one, particularly with you know, some of the core elements of RULE, we're really bringing a lot of uh exercises from JD and Terra that have been doing this kind of work for a number of years and developing kind of leadership training aspects, but you know, not not kind of an in-depth statewide type of exploration that that rule does.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: And really the idea here is kind of challenging individuals to become become better leaders, learn how to uh talk to other other folks of different views, or work through potential conflict, or think on uh think and speak on their feet, like kind of impromptu speeches, persuasive speaking, those kind of important skill sets that allow folks to succeed in in leadership positions.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: On the other hand, on the substantive side, we wanted to this to be more than just kind of basic watershed science and basic information about how our watersheds are uh impacted by human activities and what it takes to solve them, although that is part of what we talk about.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: We are really talking about how do you manage watersheds long-term in this academy?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: How do you work with a variety of different partners that may have different viewpoints or perspectives on watersheds?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: How do you collaborate with partners that may be non-traditional partners in the conservation movement?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, kind of aspects of watershed partnership development and cultivation is a lot of what we talk about in this leadership academy.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's beyond just kind of the science of watersheds, but kind of you know more of the the management and partnership development to help restore them.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: And Kathleen, I didn't want you to feel left out here.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_04: You were a graduate of the 2023 class.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_04: So what expectations did you have going into the class and what were your experiences as opposed or as to opposed to or confirming those expectations?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll start off first saying that um applying for the academy was suggested by my supervisor, Jenna Beckett, with the Alliance for Chesapeake Bay.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I was like, I don't know, four or five months into my job at the Alliance.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, you need to get to know people and and network because I was also new to the region.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, this will help you.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: She's heard great things, and I know she's a very close friend with Allison.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was kind of where that started was those expectations of at the very least, like getting some connections out there in the Lancaster area.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I might not necessarily have applied with the idea of like leadership and watershed, but I applied with some professional goals in mind.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I would say, like, so I was coming into it too with some background already in environmental science and a lot of the field.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And but then it was interesting to see the like the other scholars and where some people might have been coming in with a lot of like leadership experience, but not so much in watershed.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was like that whole gradient there.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's some folks who didn't necessarily have feel like they had a good handle in either.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that was that was kind of nice to have that that parallel going on.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so yeah, I would say in terms of the setup for that program and then how it was executed, it met expectations I didn't know I had going in in terms of well, because yeah, in the end I was successful in networking, because now I bother like Jim with the master watch and stewards all the time because I know him thanks to the academy.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the, you know, didn't realize how much room I had for growth when it came to the actual leadership aspects of it, you know, when Matt talks about like the the impromptu public speaking.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: No one likes that.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: No pressure there.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the I I would say it definitely yeah, held held up to those expectations.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then also like kind of as I went through it, I realized like, oh, like as I understood more of what it was, because to a certain extent, I think I applied without fully grasping, like comprehending what I was getting into.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: As I got more into it and understood where it was going, then I kind of developed further expectations that were that were met by the end of the year.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I will say regularly I had to be uncomfortable.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I do I did want to bring that up.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: The and and that was I mean, learning requires stepping out of your comfort zone anyway, because if your comfort Comfortable the whole time you're not learning.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, being in situations where um even though I had some background in in watersheds, still making sure I was the student or especially the leadership aspect was was more of the challenge for me.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, like the I'm pretty sure every in the cla everyone in the class will keep bringing up the the impromptu speeches they had to do.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um that came up at the reunion last week.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: It was funny to hear people be like, oh, that was really helpful when I had to talk to the media.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's this definitely creates kind of a new set of confidence.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because once you start doing the stuff that you're uncomfortable with, you're like, what?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I can do it again.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So like now, two years into my job and having some more connections, I am a lot less afraid of just like cold calling, cold emailing.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um like, okay, new partnership, right?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like just reach out.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: What's the worst that happens?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: They say no.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely kind of instill that aspect, just having the general experience of learning.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's good for adults, I think, sometimes too, who don't necessarily always get the chance to play with macroinvertebrates once we grow up.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um people don't like bugs, but they're still cool.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: And they tell us a lot.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: They do indeed.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and Kathleen, your role professionally is with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Matt, yours is with Penn State and a number of other partner organizations.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: So you're both part of this collaborative effort.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: And Matt, I know that this project or the or the idea of a watershed leadership academy was part of a project funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so can you explain a little bit about how you feel that collaborative spirit or how the Academy contributes to the collaborative effort that I think is part of why this works in Lancaster, but I'd love to hear from you guys.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I think a lot of the inspiration for the Academy was, you know, kind of looking at, you know, where we have had success stories in improving our locals, our local rivers and streams and restoring watersheds or improving watersheds.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's almost always locally driven by a multi-stakeholder partnership that is working very locally on the ground.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: And when those partnerships are successful, they often have uh local leaders that are driving that and gaining the respect of multiple partners and this kind of collaborative approach, which is really the mission of the Lancaster Clean Water Partners, it is really the only way to get this work done because you're working across so many different landowners, communities, you know, a river runs through it, right?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's uh the the the watersheds connect all of us.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: And the concept of building watershed community and successfully improving watersheds needs elements of local watershed leadership that really understand how do you cultivate these partnerships, how do you network?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, that was a um kind of a goal and deliverable of the program that I don't think I mentioned, but Kathleen is absolutely right.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's a really, really important thing that we bring to our scholars.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: And how how can you build that kind of team that you can trust and work together in relationship to make improvements in in your local community and to your local rivers and strains?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: As an example, and I know we're gonna talk about this later, the action projects.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: So those required us to at least partner up with other scholars.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Seeing some of those other partnerships build, we're like, Latisse is the MS4 coordinator.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's an acronym.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: Municipal municipal separate storm suicide.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so for example, you know, Stephanie works at the time worked for a local financial institution.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Latisse worked for as the MS4 coordinator.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: We've explained that now.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I get to use it.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can use it now.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Sally was is working for LMP online.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: So those four folks, or those three folks coming from those three different areas, and then they worked on one specific project.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Stephanie is very passionate about the park and her community and kind of working on improvements in that park.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so then, you know, her other partners coming in from their experience with water and then their experience with the media and that kind of stuff.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: So bringing those different skills and then the partnerships kind of across that area, especially as well.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think because we're talking about municipality and private kind of industry perspectives.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of strength there in making sure that I think a lot of times in water work, it's a lot of like nonprofit organizations and government municipalities, but then we should be focused too on kind of that private piece of that investment as well.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: So having folks who had that experience coming in with that perspective in their action projects, I think was pretty valuable.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: Now, Matt, was that kind of the intent is to bring people with differing backgrounds together and doing something practical based on what they're learning?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, definitely, definitely part of the academy.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: And the action project assignment, if you will, or project is is really meant to do that is uh the idea of you know the scholars working together in in in teams of two or more partners.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: But also one of the requirements of those projects is to work with external partners.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know, at least I think at least two partners we usually require to make something happen on the ground.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: So the actual the actual assignment is uh we actually develop a written request for proposals that, you know, in this world, you know, a lot of our efforts are funded through competitive, you know, grant processes.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_03: So just getting experience on dissecting and then answering a request for proposal, writing a proposal is really good, really good experience.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: The the scholars are expected to come up with an idea that will lead to some sort of action on the ground.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: That's why it's called an action project, the implementation of best management practices or delivery of education that inspires others to act, et cetera.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and and then you'll have to execute and deliver that project.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: They have to come up with some level of funding match that's coming in from maybe a partner or or volunteer contributions.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then through the funding that we've been we've been lucky to have support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: And before that, for our pilot, Penn State University to launch the academy, some of that funding then can go to the scholars to execute their action projects.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Those are a lot of fun.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: And to be able to see the creativity and like you said, Kathleen, the expertise coming in from so many different backgrounds.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: People come up with projects that have a lot of meaning for them personally, but also stretches them, makes them look outside their normal world and say, Well, what's possible here?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or I didn't even notice that there was an issue.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: And now I want to figure out how to fix it.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_04: So, Kathleen, what was your favorite part of going through the academy?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think the most the favorite part, kind of the most impactful part, is that trip that we do to the bay at the end of the year.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And ours was in November.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a very pretty time to visit the bay.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not the most comfortable temperature when we're going to be able to do it.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very remote.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: I believe you drive through like all Blackwater refuge to get down there.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we definitely lost cell service at at some point on that trip.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_04: That sounds lovely, actually.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So there's nothing to really do there except for obviously the programming, but like focusing on the area you're in and then like the time you're spending with each other.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we had spent all year kind of building up to watershed, why it matters, stuff like that.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think especially in Pennsylvania, like some some people in Pennsylvania don't even know we're in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, it's in a different state.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how could it possibly be?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then I tell them it starts in New York.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that seeing how kind of vast the bay is in person, and just knowing that you're kind of part of the bigger puzzle definitely has that kind of impact and is definitely a favorite.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And because also who doesn't like messing around in boats?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like we did that, you know, we ate crabs, had a campfire, all sorts of stuff.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Proging.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was a fun.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's not an acronym, but I might have to define progging.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: Progging.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: What is progging?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Proguing is how I've always heard it.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_04: I haven't heard it.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_04: So what is it?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is basically like beachcombing, I would say.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you're walking along the shores, and it's it's a very specific uh Chesapeake Bay term, I believe, as well.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you're just looking for cool things to pick up.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them too are like remnants of past towns and stuff like that.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we went specifically to I want to say Hollis Island.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Holland.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we're looking for stuff that came from the old towns there.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: So like I have some pieces of sea glass that obviously predated the town and some other stuff like that.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: So and it's just kind of when you take time to just be present on that trip, I think has a just has a really nice feel to it and does kind of bring the the academy to a close.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we follow the flow the whole way.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about the headwaters of Lancaster County and starting in the small little tributaries and how we connect to each other, how we collaborate as a network that exists within Lancaster, but that exists within the bigger bay watershed too.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so literally you just keep going, keep following the tributary to the bigger tributary, to the Susquehanna, to the really big bay.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's a fun process.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, there's a there's an aspect there we're cooking meals together, you know, we're relaxing together, we're kayaking at sunset uh in pairs, and and it's you know, it's it it's just uh building building a relationship, which is the fundamental building block of building trust that that is so critical to uh successfully working together to restore watersheds.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: Now, this question, because it kind of relates right right into that, the the bonds that that brings.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_04: Have you stayed in touch with any of your classmates?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_04: Do we know where the classmates are now?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we do.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: I could say specifically, yes, have stayed in touch with a lot of them.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Some folks have shifted fields, so some folks I'm more in touch with now.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one person has moved very far away.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll get to that in a sec.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, like um, since I know the organizations they work for and the partners and stuff there, so reaching out to those folks, still planning for those folks, and also just being in touch in a in a friendship capacity.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: So getting breakfast monthly with Kaylee.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because so good in in the academy, three of the scholars actually live in York, even though it's focused on Lancaster.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so us York contingent will occasionally get breakfast because uh we gotta stick together.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we've had a number of people, like you said, switch to conservation careers after their time in the academy.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: So some people were in finance and now they're doing work with a local watershed association.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: Some people were doing social justice work, or they were in graduate school, or they were at a professional corporate situation and have now decided they want to shift their career to conservation.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: So they're looking for the perfect spot, or they have found a new opportunity they didn't even know about.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: And some have just grown in their own work from the first class.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: We had a number of people that have moved up at their organization, like now they're the head of that team, or their leadership skills have increased.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so they took on a board leadership role at a different organization.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been a blend of things.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: I would say one of the other cool things is about the intergenerational nature of it.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we had some people that had just graduated college and some who were retiring like the day after the academy.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so it really blends and brings like the experience levels, but also people at different points in their life.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so starting a chapter or ending a chapter is part of the bonding, I think.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's why we get to know each other in sort in such better ways.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I I think that's right, Allison.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: And and and as one of the instructors, co-instructor with Allison and our, it's really neat to see how those different scholars grow.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: And and you see some of those that are just getting started in their careers, and maybe that is they've found their passion and and now you know there's trajectory to to grow in that career.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, Allison had mentioned the career transitions, and and we've seen some of the older scholars transition to second careers that are relevant to this work.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: So it's just really rewarding and enriching to see that.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: And Matt, one of your I think I would consider it part of your career, is that you are in a leadership role with the Lancaster Cleanwater Partners.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: You're part of our board of trustees.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious how you see this kind of academy or this kind of tool in our collaborative belt being able to fit in for success at the at the countywide level, at the bay wide level.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: How does the this academy help help us in Lancaster do that?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, I think, I think, again, the the collaborative nature and partnership nature is what it's going to take.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: Lancaster County, I've heard, I've heard people say in the in the the Bay world, the efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay, that you know, Lancaster County always gets singled out as state, you know, the the largest opportunity.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that means the largest, you know, source of of the pollutants to the bay that we're concerned about.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: And it's very complex.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it's you know, almost like, you know, that's it's almost like you could carve it out as a state on itself, and you know, 60, what, how many municipalities in the county?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: 60, yeah, maybe not 60 some and multiple watersheds.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, this is going to take many, many people working together.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I think the the academy itself achieves the the goal of you know building every time we have a new academy, a new group of watershed leaders that, you know, if they start to grow and and take what they've learned from the academy, doing the things that that Kathleen is doing, they have a new set of network of partners, they have uh a cohort of scholars that have gone through it.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: They they have you know some partners to collaborate with and move forward.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really what it's gonna take to clean, you know, meet our clean water goals in in the county long term.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your vision of this project and what it could be for Lancaster, how it can be and has been so helpful.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you to you and your team for being one of the main reasons that this is here.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really grateful to be part of it.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: We are too.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: We're grateful to have you as a partner, Allison, and the Cleanwater Partners of without without you, we don't have a Lancaster Cleanwater Academy, that is for sure.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a perfect place to do this with great partners.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, thank you so much.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, that having been said, it is trivia time.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_04: Brand new sound effect.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's gonna work like this.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: This one is called MD or PA.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_04: We've established that Kathleen is a how did you phrase that?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Aggressively Marylander.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_04: Aggressively Marylander.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely love that.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_04: And Matt is a homegrown Pennsylvania boy.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_04: And so I am gonna tell you a fact that applies to one of those two states, either Maryland or Pennsylvania.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_04: You tell me which one it is.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_04: You guys can work together if you want.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_04: Or would you rather head off against each other?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_04: Collaboration.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, we'll we'll collaborate.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_04: That is the theme of collaboration is good.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_04: So here we go.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_04: According to the 2019 census statistics, which state has the larger population?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I would guess Pennsylvania only because it's larger.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: I would guess Pennsylvania too, exactly.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: That is correct.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_05: Uh good job.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_04: Pennsylvania has 12.8 million, Maryland has six point oh four million.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't think it'd be that big a difference.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_04: Neither did I.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maryland's got all that city sprawl.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Pennsylvania has has it on both ends of the state.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: The first computer was built in this state.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking it's not even Pennsylvania, Maryland, but that can't possibly be.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to trick you for Pennsylvania.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_04: You got it.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, the Antiac Computer was completed in 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_04: This is the seventh state to join the union.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's Maryland.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_04: It is Maryland.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_04: Joined in 1788.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_04: Pennsylvania actually was the second state to join the the union in 1787.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_04: This state's flower is the black-eyed Susan.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's Maryland.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_04: Is indeed Maryland.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Pennsylvania is mountain laurel.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_04: Remember.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know Pennsylvania's state tree, state fish, and state amphibian.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: If we need those later.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't remember.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um this state was home to the first telegraph line.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: But you guessed back to Maryland?
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_04: It is established in 1844.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_04: It ran between Baltimore and Washington.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_04: Which state has won the most professional sports championships.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: Go mad, go mad.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: The Eagles don't have too many.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: The Steelers don't have too much.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_05: No, the other side of the state.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a lot in Pittsburgh.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_04: Pennsylvania?
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: It is Pennsylvania.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_04: Between the NFL, the MBA, MLB, and HL, which are the National Football League, not this time, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_04: So but I caught myself before you said it.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_04: So which state has the most miles of rivers and streams?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: That would be Pennsylvania.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty cool.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_04: It is Pennsylvania.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_04: Pennsylvania has 86,000.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_04: Maryland has 16,839.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_04: I'm really curious why Pennsylvania has an even number.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know how accurate that specific number is, and it may be tried to figure out.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_04: That's why we're here, Matt.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's called job security.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_04: Which state has the most cities within its borders that have been the capital of the United States?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_04: I phrased it the way I did for a very specific reason.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Pennsylvania captain?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's as good a guess as any.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_04: It was a bit of a trick question, and I phrased it the way I did because it's actually a tie.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_04: Because I said because I said city within its borders.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't say it was a Maryland city.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_04: So that having been said, it's Philadelphia, Lancaster and York, in Pennsylvania, obviously, in Maryland, Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington, D.C.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's our show.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you guys so much for being here.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_04: We really appreciate you coming on the podcast and telling us about Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: And the deadline once again, Allison, is October 4th for the 2025 class.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: Kathleen, thanks for being part of our 2023 class.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Matt, for being a co-lead on two so far.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: We got this new one coming up.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: And uh to our a shout out to our inaugural class alumni as well.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: They stuck with us through COVID and helped us create this really creative syllabus.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we're really excited to be able to share that with a new set of scholars.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're interested, either you want to go go and do it or you want to nominate somebody to go and do it, go to our website, LangsterCleanwaterpartners.com.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: There is a banner at the top of the website that'll take you right over to that page and to the application.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_04: So that is the time we have.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_04: We will be back in just a couple of weeks.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_04: In the meantime, take care.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_02: Bye-bye.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, everyone.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_04: Cleanwater Conversations is brought to you by Lancaster Clean Water Partners.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_04: If you have comments or suggestions on the show topics, please contact us at infolancaster cleanwaterpartners.com.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for listening.