On February 12th, sixty sixth grade students from the Kilmer K-8 School joined staff and volunteers from The Center for STEM Education for a day of learning about pollution and the environment. The students started by polluting the Charles River (a container of water, not the actual river) followed by a presentation on pollution and environmental factors. Then, students designed water filters to clean the dirty water they just made, budgeting out the various materials they used, such as sand, coffee filters, and cotton balls. After a lunch in which they talked to volunteers about college, students learned about the environmental effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the ongoing Aliso Canyon natural gas leak. Students then were tasked with removing as much oil from a container of water as possible. Most groups were able to remove 80+% of the oil, with two groups even removing 95+% of the oil.