(May 4, 2004) — Students from EAST attended a research conference held April 24 at Occidental College to present this year’s project to members of the community and students from the area. The public service announcement project the EAST students have been working on this year is the Swiftwater Awareness Campaing. The campaign is aimed towards preventing children from falling and drowning in the Los Angeles River and helps children become aware of the dangers of the rescue process if they fall in. “The process started out with a lot of research on the construction of the Los Angeles River and the hazards that it posed to people,” said senior Vista Ezzati, an EAST student involved with the campaign. “Many children just go and play in the river and don’t understand the force of the river, which can move up to [a small fire truck] during a flood.” The team also did research on Swiftwater, a team of professionals trained to rescue people from fast-moving bodies of water. The team conducted interviews were conducted with department officers and Nancy Rigg, the co-founder of the Higgins and Langley Foundation, an organization that prevents swiftwater accidents from happening. EAST’s final product was a public service announcement targeted towards little kids teaching them the do’s and don’t’s when it comes to swiftwater currents. The program focuses on the sciences such as biology and chemistry. It is designed to teach students about bettering their environment. When it was created, the program was solely based on the study of the Los Angeles River. It has since expanded to include the many different dimensions of various parts of southern California life. Students study topics of interest and then create projects that help them share their new knowledge. According to the program’s homepage, the goals of the program include “promoting and improving science education and literacy by providing educators and students with the support and hardware necessary to access web-based curricula in the classroom.” The program also encourages the advancement and achievement of new learning models and supports students and teachers to become “lifelong learners.”