Water Journeys:Drink! Story Map is published!

 

Explore the Water Journeys: Drink! Story Map for 2019 LINK

Follow along to see the story of our water journey as illustrated by the campers' own photos and observations. 

Coming Soon...

In addition to the story map, the complete set of photos from each team will be published under the "images" tab. However they are still in process due to technical difficulties. But check back soon. The variety and quality of the campers' photos are wonderful!

Congratulations Water Journeys: Rain! Campers

Last week 24 campers, ages 6-11, completed a quest to find out where the rain in the camp drinking storm drain came from, and where it goes. The journey took them upstream to the roof of the LES camp building, and to a variety of land types on St. Paul Campus. The journey downstream, took them through campus underground infrastructure, to Sarita Wetland, and all the way to the Mississippi River. After returning, they helped protect water and provide habitat by planting native flowers in Sarita Wetland. Then we celebrated with an exhibit and open house featuring their own photographs and artwork. Look for more photos and a story map later this week!

Water Journeys: Rain! AM Campers

Water Journeys: Rain! PM Campers

Congratulations Water Journeys:Drink Campers!

Last week 26 campers, ages 6-11, completed a quest to find out where the water in the camp drinking fountain came from, and where it went. The journey took them upstream and downstream, finding the Mississippi River at both ends of the story. After returning, they helped protect water and provide habitat by planting native flowers in Sarita Wetland. Then we celebrated with an exhibit and open house featuring their own photographs and artwork. Look for more photos and a story map later this week!

AM Water Journey Drink Campers

PM Water Journey Drink Campers

Summer 2019 Camps Almost Filled!

Camper group photo outside the Native American Medicine Garden
in the 2018 Water Journeys - Rain! Camp

We are looking forward to meeting our campers summer 2019 for Water Journeys - Drink! and Water Journeys - Rain! As of this writing (March 12), Water Journeys - Drink and one of the Water Journeys-Rain! camps have filled to capacity, and there are five spots left in Water Journeys - Rain! for ages 9-less than 12. Register at this LINK, to get one of those slots.

See you this summer!

2018 Water Journeys are complete - Thank You!

Water Journeys--Drink! Campers at Kaposia Landing

Water Journeys-Rain! Campers at the Native American Medicine Garden

The Water Journey's - Rain! and Water Journeys-Drink! Camps are complete for 2018. You can get a glimpse into the campers' adventures by by viewing the campers' story in the GIS Story Maps for each week (see other website tabs), looking at prior blog posts on this website, and by visiting the exhibit at Institute on the Environment this summer.

Parents, please note that the two featured photos from your campers are included the GIS Story Maps and exhibit, and the rest of their journey photos will be posted under the Images tab on this website in July. 

Thank you to our wonderful campers this year! You were all a joy to spend time with, as we explored water together and its connections to the Mississippi River. Your pictures, artwork, stewardship planting, and story help inspire others to follow your lead to care for water and learn its hidden stories.

And thank you to our wonderful team: the camp counselors, Madeline Harpell, 2018 Lead Teacher, and camp team: Jess Foor, Najma Ali, and Vu Dang. A very special thank you to our tour guide partners, essential to the camp experience: Cathy Abene, Principal Civil Engineer for University of Minnesota, with additional thanks to Madeline and Shawn from her team; Abby Olson, Park Ranger, National Park Service, Rena Weis, Environmental Engineer Intern, from Wenck, educating on behalf of the West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission; Jodi Wallin, Alex Rossow, and Jeremy Erikson from St. Paul Regional Water Services; and Nick Voss, Education and Outreach Coordinator, from Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization.


Finally, thank you to Camp Program Coordinator, Venessa Fiedler, University of Minnesota Recreation & Wellness Summer Youth Program, to Institute on the Environment Sustainability Education Group, for hosting the camp and additional camp support, and to Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund which development of the camp possible.

Sincerely,
Jonee Kulman Brigham and Beth Mercer-Taylor, Camp Coordinators

Initial Funding for developing this project and implementing it in 2016 was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The Trust Fund is a permanent fund constitutionally established by the citizens of Minnesota to assist in the protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state's air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources.

Drink Week Day 5 Sharing the Story

During the camp day, we tested our water to see how it changed along its journey, and we worked on art some more.

Water Quality Testing

Reporting out results to compare water quality at different locations

Water taste testing - comparing water from the drinking fountain
to bottled water. (Most of us preferred the drinking fountain)

An activity near the end to remember our favorite parts of camp.

Reciting the camp poem as we take a final drink of water from
The drinking fountain.

 The final activity of camp was to share the story of what we did and learned. That way other people can learn the story of Water We Drink so they want to save water and help keep it clean. One way we did this is to have an art-science exhibit showing where we went, the photographs we took, the notebooks and maps we made, the plants we planted, and the things we noticed that we thought were interesting and important.

The other way to do this, is with THIS story map. That way all the people who can't come to the exhibit can learn about the Water We Drink too.

Drink Week Day 4

Part of GIS Story Map showing the Metropolitan Waste Water Treatment Plant
We poured our water out across from it's effluent channel.

We gathered around the GIS Display to review the map of our journey - how the water traveled from the Mississippi River to our drinking fountain, and back to the Mississippi River.  We remembered how Rena had told us about how the rain garden at River Park helps the river.

Today, we get to help the river too. There is a place on campus called Sarita Wetland, that helps clean the water before it goes to the Mississippi River. That means all the people downstream of us will have better drinking water and so will the fish and eagles.

We planted four kinds of long-rooted native plants that will help water soak into the earth. They will also help pollinators like bees, and other animals, and of course, they are beautiful.

Back at camp, we made art maps to reflect on our journey, and selected two favorite photos we took that will be in the exhibit Friday at 4:30 and also on the story map on this web page.

Olivia and Riya making memory maps

Riya's memory map of activities at River Park
and the St. Paul water intake.

John selecting and captioning his favorite of his photographs
with Jess, on the camp team.