N4WPP Water Symposium

Four Corners area high school students are invited to help solve some of the most important water challenges in New Mexico and across the Navajo Nation.

October 24, 2025

Navajo Technical University
Lowerpoint Rd State Hwy 371, Crownpoint, NM 87313

Compete as a team in science challenges both before and during the event to win fun prizes.
Topics will cover basic hydrology and geology concepts, water quality, and scientific methods.

Collect swag from government agencies and industry leaders.
Learn how you can become a leader in water resources.

What is the N4WPP Water Symposium?

Thank you for participating in our fourth N⁴WPP Water Challenge. N⁴WPP is the Navajo Tech - New Mexico Tech - Navajo Nation Water Purification Project. N⁴WPP is partnered to bring education and research opportunities for NTU and NMT students in a project with a long term goal of providing clean drinking water to the Navajo Nation. This partnership also strives to bring STEM projects to high school students to foster the growth of the next generation of hydrologists, water resource and civil engineers, and community planners and leaders. If you are interested in learning more about the N⁴WPP research project, please see our website (https://www.nmt.edu/restore/).

8/22/25 - Registration opens. Pre-challenge and study materials are available on the symposium website.

9/26/25 - Last day to register your teams. Please give us time to plan for shirts, lunches and awesome prizes by registering by this deadline.

10/19/25 @ midnight - Last day to submit pre-challenge materials. Our judges will need time to grade and award points. Materials submitted after this date will still be accepted, but will be docked 5% for every day they are late.

10/24/25 - Symposium at Navajo Tech in Crownpoint.

TENTATIVE AGENDA

8:30am - 9:15am	Registration
9:15am - 9:30am	Welcome
9:30am - 11:30am	Challenge Rounds
11:30am - noon	Hydrology Quiz
noon - 1:30pm	Lunch and NTU Campus Tours
1:30pm - 2:00pm	Prize Ceremony

School Water Challenge

Challenge Details

This symposium consists of three different activities that the students can complete to earn points before the event. We have supply kits with pH paper, secchi disks, and conductivity testers. If you did not receive these supplies through your local MESA contact, please email laila.sturgis@nmt.edu to have a kit mailed to you.

The students will need to form teams of four or less and stay with that team for all events both before and during the sypoisum - so they should pick a team name they will remember! Each activity is optional, but the team with the highest overall points will get to select prizes first, the second place team will select prizes next, etc.

Click on the challenges below (in red text) to download the pre- challenge activity.

Pre-Challenge Activities	Collect a Sample	100 points
	Measure Water Quality	200 points
	Online Aquifer Model	100 points
Symposium Activities	N4WPP Challenge Stations	400 points
Symposium Activities	Vendor Booths	200 points
Total possible		1000 points

School/Team Registration

Team Registration Deadline: September 26, 2025

If you plan on attending as a spectator, please let us know via email so we can plan for our number of attendees. Email laila.sturgis@nmt.edu

About the Organizers

New Mexico Tech

Laila Sturgis - Hydrogeologist, Symposium Lead

Bonnie Frey - Geochemist, Symposium co-Lead

Navajo Tech

Abhishek RoyChowdhury - NTU Environmental Science and Natural Resources Department

Vendors

We are looking for industry partners to join our symposium and share their work with college and high school students. Students will get points for visiting your booth to help win prizes at the end of the day. Please join us by signing up below. The event is free for vendors.

VENDOR REGISTRATION

Prizes Available

Prizes such as keyboards, headphones, hoodies, and more will be available to participants of the Water Challenge. The team with the highest overall score will be allowed to select their prizes first, then the second place team will be allowed to select their prize, and so on until we run out of prizes.

Event Flyer

Contact Info

Laila Sturgis - laila.sturgis@nmt.edu New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. Aquifer Mapping Program Manager