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Lessons From Water School: Milwaukee-Area Groups Learn Stewardship, Leadership, Appreciation
Andrea Zani
Andrea Zani is managing editor of Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine.
What did you do this summer? It’s a common question heading into fall as people catch up with news among friends.
For a cohort of community groups working with Milwaukee Water Commons, the answer might feel especially satisfying: They helped to “make a splash at summer Water School.”
For the past 10 years, teams from Milwaukee-area neighborhood-based groups have joined together at Water School, developed by Milwaukee Water Commons to foster local leadership through water education, develop stewardship projects and build cross-community relationships.
Each Water School summer session consists of five teams of five people of all ages. With four meetings held at different Milwaukee-area waterways, participants learn about important water issues from local experts while also enjoying activities such as fishing, kayaking and art-making to grow their knowledge and build teamwork.
“The name might make it feel like you’re going to be in a classroom, but you’re really going to be out, in and on water,” said Janet Veum, director of communications for Milwaukee Water Commons.
Once Water School wraps up, participants receive a small grant from Milwaukee Water Commons to develop a project in their own neighborhoods.
Water School supports the organization’s vision of Milwaukee as a model Water City, encouraging stewardship at grassroots levels, said Rhonda Nordstrom. As community education manager for Milwaukee Water Commons, Nordstrom coordinates programming for the nonprofit.
“We say we’re fostering a city network of leadership on water,” she said. “Water School is one of the ways we do that.”
Passion And Inspiration
Water School participants are people passionate about water and committed to supporting the watersheds of Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River Basin. Many come to it after hearing from someone else who has completed the program.
And Water School graduates often create lasting relationships that enhance the work they do on behalf of clean water, Veum noted.
“It’s not just the projects, it’s also the lasting connections people make,” she said. “People meet at Water School and realize they have this common passion for water, then end up working together for years.”
Nordstrom added that the sense of common purpose can make Water School “inspirational and motivational.”
“They’re learning about neighborhood-based initiatives that are happening throughout the city,” she said. “So there’s lots of inspiration that comes from finding themselves in a roomful of folks who are doing things and dealing with the same issues they care about, too.”
Cohorts have included groups like the Center for Veterans Issues, CORE El Centro, Discovery World, Friends of Lakeshore State Park, Kinnickinnic River Neighbors in Action, Milwaukee Public Museum and Urban Underground. Schools, faith-based groups and others also have learned from Water School and put projects into action.
“There are so many different approaches people take,” Nordstrom said. “They’re putting on their own workshops and trainings, investing in local infrastructure like rain capture systems, putting on a camp for young people. It really is such a range.
“People feel so much flexibility and opportunity to build what they want to see.”
Water School has become such a success, it has even expanded to a winter session. The program helps “build a broad network” of people who care about water and related issues, Nordstrom said, “and it connects people with resources throughout the city.”
Creating Connections
One of the most unique things about Water School is how it incorporates arts and culture to teach about and celebrate water.
“There’s this idea that people have been disconnected from water and in order to steward it well and address water issues, people need to reconnect,” Nordstrom said. “Bringing creativity into the process helps to do that.
“Water School is very arts and culture focused to make space for people.”
Enjoying water and interacting with it also are key components of Water School, she added, with sessions “really centered on the recreation experience surrounding water.” State properties play a big role there.
Areas explored during summer Water School sessions have included Lincoln Creek in Havenwoods State Forest, Mauthe Lake in the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Northern Unit and Lakeshore State Park. The first winter Water School featured a cross-country skiing outing in Kettle Moraine’s Lapham Peak unit.
“We really appreciate our relationships with our nearby state parks,” Nordstrom said.
Even hiking at places like the Ice Age Trail, which passes near Milwaukee, can help teach about connections to water through its history and geology.
“Let’s remember how the Great Lakes even formed,” Nordstrom said.
“Because water is so central to Milwaukee’s location and formation and history, I think people walk away not having just learned about water and water in the city, but they’ve learned about the city itself.
“Folks who have lived in Milwaukee their whole lives have learned the history of a neighborhood they never knew before. And it was through the gaze of water that they got that.”
Leading The Way On Water
Milwaukee Water Commons was founded about a decade ago — shaped by feedback from throughout the greater Milwaukee area, said Rhonda Nordstrom, the nonprofit group’s community education manager.
“That really became an anchor for the work,” she said of public input.
With the Milwaukee Estuary designated an Area of Concern, the organization sought to engage everyone in finding ways to address water issues. A “Water City agenda” was created, focusing on six pieces: drinking water, arts and culture, water quality, education and recreation, blue green jobs and green infrastructure.
“Water School was one of the first programs of the organization,” Nordstrom said, developed to advance those six initiatives through education and funding of neighborhood projects.
“When teams go to Water School, there are very few parameters on the grant funding except that they speak to at least one of those initiatives,” she said. Groups can lead the way and take action “hyperlocally,” she added.
Water School isn’t Milwaukee Water Commons’ only successful water-focused program. Other work includes:
We Are Water, an annual event celebrating shared waters and community.
Branch Out Milwaukee, supporting the city’s urban tree canopy, which can help mitigate issues with urban flooding, storm damage and air quality.
Beach Ambassador Project, partnering with the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, Wisconsin Sea Grant and local water safety leaders to hire ambassadors who help communicate beach conditions along Lake Michigan and increase water safety awareness city-wide.
Artists in Residence, tapping local artists who use their work to highlight themes of common waters and community engagement.
For details about the work of Milwaukee Water Commons, including its Water School program and how you can get involved, see milwaukeewatercommons.org.
'I Feel Connected To Water'
When Alejandra Jimenez was growing up in Cuernavaca, Mexico, her area didn’t have consistent access to clean drinking water.
The landlocked community south of Mexico City wasn’t near a large freshwater reservoir source and lacked some of the needed infrastructure to deliver water from its underground aquifer to individual homes. She remembers her family regularly bringing in water as needed for drinking and cooking.
The experience helped teach her the vital importance of water. “I really know how important it is to conserve water,” she said.
She also developed a deep appreciation for this indispensable resource.
“My whole life, I’ve spent time outdoors exploring. I feel connected to water,” said Jimenez, who now lives in Milwaukee — with its welcome access to inland lakes, rivers and Lake Michigan.
“It’s so calming, I love to swim. I feel so comfortable being around water and know how important it is.”
That’s a big reason why Jimenez was so excited when she learned about Milwaukee Water Commons’ Water School.
“I found out about it on social media,” recalled Jimenez, a 2024 Water School participant. “It said it was a school about water, and that caught my eye.”
She wasn’t disappointed in the experience. Beyond providing many new and fun lessons about water, it also allowed her to connect with others of all ages and backgrounds who feel the same way she does about the value of water.
“The first thing I saw was the welcoming environment,” she said of Water School. “It was intergenerational, with youth and adults. It was really neat to see all the different ages meeting about water, seeing the point of view of different backgrounds.”
She also enjoyed the many outdoor activities incorporated into Water School. One of her favorites was a paddling outing when it so happened her father was visiting from Mexico. She hadn’t seen him in about two years — and she was encouraged by Water School organizers to bring him along.
“It wasn’t crowded on the lake, a light rain had started to fall, there were birds around,” she said of the outing. “It was a really neat moment, so quiet and peaceful with my dad.”
Plenty To Teach
Jimenez is the founder of Semillitas Spanish in Nature, which offers Spanish-language environmental education programs for ages 2-6 and summer camps
for older children. Semillitas (“little seeds”) provides a combination of hands-on nature learning and language immersion, with both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking children in attendance.
Lessons from Water School have quickly made their way into her teaching, she said. “I’m already sharing what I learned from Water School.”
Jimenez uses Havenwoods State Forest in Milwaukee for many of her nature learning classes. Some of her classes are even supported with grant money from the property’s Friends Group.
As part of her Water School participation, Jimenez also received a grant from Milwaukee Water Commons that allowed her to expand her summer programming this year, adding a week-long camp in August for ages 8-11 that was focused on the importance of water.
As with much of her teaching, the summer program included a cultural element, in large part inspired by Jimenez’s own interest in Mexico’s Aztec and Mayan history and her background as founder of Ometochtli Mexican Folk Dance in Milwaukee. Again, water is an aspect of that.
“I like to teach how humans are really connected to water, even far back in time,” she said. “Aztec and Mayan cultures were really connected to nature. They danced to celebrate Mother Earth, and one of the dances was to celebrate water.
“I can combine the two things I know: my culture and the environment.”
The summer camp supported by the Water School grant expanded her teaching opportunities, Jimenez said, adding that she hopes the pre-teens from her camp can “take the lessons to their own lives.”
“I’m really grateful to Water School for allowing me to create this,” she said. “If someone doesn’t know about something or love it, they don’t care about it.
“We can create more awareness about what is happening with water and its importance to our communities.”
About The Milwaukee Area Of Concern
Milwaukee is a city built on water, but the waterways we see today look significantly different than they did in the 1800s. As the city grew on the ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee, Milwaukee was drastically modified.
Rivers were straightened, dredged and widened to accommodate large commercial shipping vessels and industry. Manufacturing companies and factories took advantage of the area’s accessibility to Lake Michigan for shipping and commerce.
Milwaukee’s industries (it was the largest leather producer in the world by the 1900s) allowed the economy to prosper and society to advance. But that came at a cost to the environment and to water quality during a time before regulatory safeguards were in place.
The Milwaukee Estuary was designated an Area of Concern as part of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1987. Now, the DNR and many partners, including Milwaukee Water Commons, work together to engage everyone in finding ways to address water quality issues.
For details about the Milwaukee Estuary and Wisconsin’s other Great Lakes Areas of Concern, visit the DNR website.
