When it comes to addressing water challenges, the focus is often on scientific research. Advancing science is critical to protecting our state’s water systems — and so is raising awareness of issues and encouraging community members to get involved.
UW-Parkside sought to do just that with a grant from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin that funded the summer 2023 issue of its ROOT Magazine, which focused on water challenges.
ROOT magazine is a community-based learning project that is part of UW-Parkside’s “Writing for Multimedia” course. Each edition pairs students with a community partner — in this case, the Freshwater Collaborative — to accomplish a shared communication goal. The resulting magazine is distributed at the Racine Visitors Bureau, the Rita Tallent Picken Regional Center for the Arts and Humanities and local businesses.
The water edition brought together students and faculty from Communications, Biology, and Art and Design as well as local photographer Glen Larson. The course was taught by veteran journalist Denise Lockwood, who owns the Racine County Eye and has written extensively about water issues.
Students wrote about challenges effecting southeast Wisconsin, such as coastal erosion, safe drinking water, clean beaches, and the impact of road salt. The magazine also informed readers about the Freshwater Collaborative and UW-Parkside’s involvement.
Not only did students conduct research and interviews, but they also held a 90-minute panel discussion on campus that included faculty and staff from UW-Parkside’s Biology and Sustainable Management departments and local community members from the Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network.
“The panel discussion allowed students to really get an understanding of how to ask interview questions on the spot, which was a nice challenge for them,” says Adrienne Viramontes, professor and chair of the Communication Department. “Another real benefit is they had the opportunity to network and get to know people they wouldn’t normally meet, and you never know when that’s going to benefit you as a professional.”
In a personal reflection for ROOT, student Nick Brown shared how the project raised his awareness of how many people in the United States are affected by poor water quality.
He wrote: “This community-based learning project brought the importance of water quality to my front page. Thankfully, I have never had to deal with low-quality water. But after hearing from experts and community members with firsthand experience, it has shown me the magnitude of the problem.”