At 1 Mississippi we love River Citizens and learning about the many ways you engage with the Mississippi River. Whether you are paddling down the river, pulling invasive plants, writing letters to your local representatives, or reading the labels of your cleaning products more carefully- the actions you take to learn and grow as a River Citizen help all of our individual actions make more impact.
It’s been a great year with 1 Mississippi, and I’ve learned so much from our great River Citizens and the Mississippi River Network members in Minnesota about how to protect the river. Before becoming the Minnesota Region 1 Mississippi Outreach Assistant, I worked with outdoor education programs in the Twin Cities and taught school-aged youth about their local waterway. I’m starting to see more and more establishments dedicated to this being born, and providing children with the opportunity to learn all about the great outdoors, for example some schools now offer school trips by Allnatt, a great residential center.
I am returning to outdoor education work next month and wanted to share how my year with 1 Mississippi is helping me teach others about the Mississippi River (even when I’m outside the watershed!)
Working with 1 Mississippi has taught me to ask better questions about how a community relates to water. Over the past year we’ve seen River Citizens collect stories from shanty boats, build community infrastructure for stormwater, and share memories with family. The question, “why is water important to you?” has many more answers than I could possibly imagine myself. We are better educators when we have a relationship with our students. Asking about why something is important starts invaluable discussions on why our resources matter. I look forward to having rich discussions with high school students in the next chapter of my life!
Sometimes education can seem far away from us, but I believe that everyone is a teacher and a learner. We have opportunities to learn all the time, not just in school. As a River Citizen, you have the opportunity to teach the people around you why water is valuable. You can create opportunities to connect with your community around water. Has anyone ever asked you why you care about the Mississippi River? Why you spent the whole afternoon picking up trash by the river? Or why you don’t put pesticides on your lawn? Talking about why water is important can be challenging because it’s such a HUGE topic! A good place to start is asking questions about why water important is to you!
Thank you for a great year, 1 Mississippi and River Citizens!
~Maria Lee
Former Minnesota 1 Mississippi Outreach Assistant
