West Lake Norman News

Western Piedmont Community College recently issued the following announcement.

Morganton, NC – Cadence Davis, a second year WPCC student working towards his Associate in Science degree, won first place in the Lake James Environmental Association Water Quality Symposium post-secondary student poster contest.

Taking home an award of $250, Davis participated in the undergraduate research competition and started his research through the CREST program at WPCC. The event covered many of the future water quality related projects that the association will be working on for Lake James and other local bodies of water.

Davis’ project assessed the stream of Western Piedmont’s local Hunting Creek. The results provided extensive research on the stream bank, the macroinvertebrate populations, the overall chemical levels of the water and the currents rate of flow. His findings proved that action is needed near the creek for the sake of the life and an adjacent power line and gravel road.

“We hope to see future remediation in this area in the spring and will be working on receiving the funds and planning for the project in CREST meetings” Davis said.

Davis extended thanks to WPCC Biology instructor Jessica Howells, Chemistry instructor Stacey Johnson and former dean and adjunct instructor Mr. Lee Kiser of the Lake James Conservancy Association who helped organize the symposium and provided project assistance.

“I also thank Western Piedmont Community College for their support and the funding that help projects like these come to life. The college was tremendously convenient when it came to loaning equipment and hosting all of the meetings for several times a week and in multiple different locations,” Davis said. “I couldn’t have done it without WPCC!”

“We are very proud of Cadence, and the work that he put into this project and we’re excited about possible extensions of his research.” Stacey Johnson said. “WPCC’s CREST research experiences allow students, like Cadence, to participate in science and see how it may be applied locally.”

Original source can be found here.