Seniors represent a key link between youth monitors and university faculty. Seniors would organize monitoring activities, provide monitoring instruction to youth, ensure that monitoring results are recorded and compiled, and serve in a quality-control capacity. The centerpiece of this concept is, of course, youth serving as environmental monitors. Their involvement will achieve the community's goals while contributing to environmental education. Efforts would be made to involve a significant number of young people, but goals of involving a large number of student participants should be secondary to the primary emphasis on the quality of both the learning experience and monitoring efforts.
Examples abound of low-cost equipment that can be used for monitoring.
A host of commercially available water-quality monitoring kits would fit the capabilities of youth. These kits monitor for phosphates, bacteria, pH, and dissolved oxygen, among other characteristics. Other procedures and equipment can gauge the level of biological activity. Kits that detect radon and carbon monoxide are also available for measuring indoor air quality. Simple traps can ascertain the extent of animal diversity in the community.