PROJECT SUMMARY

The City of Milwaukee has thrived over the years partly because of its connection to the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan and the three rivers winding through the city give access to the water flowing through the region. Milwaukee’s three local watersheds are comprised of the Menomonee River, Milwaukee River, and Kinnickinnic River. These bodies of water carry a valuable resource that allows humans and wildlife to thrive through ample sustenance, recreation, history, and discovery. Many people in Milwaukee and throughout the Great Lakes watershed have become inspired to sustain and conserve our rivers and lakes. This valiant effort created the need to increase the people’s water literacy in hopes of inspiring many to develop their own water stewardship. 

Efforts to increase water literacy in the Milwaukee area led to El Puente High School. The school received the opportunity to participate in a collaboration with Reflo, Community Design Solutions at UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison, and TransCenter for Youth. El Puente High School was founded in 1997 with science and mathematics taking subject priority. This was done in order to offer hands-on, project-based learning to families. The school’s hands-on approach allowed a class of environmental science students to contribute to a redevelopment conceptual plan for the school and a nearby vacant lot. The conceptual plan highlights the wanted and needed features for the school as shared by school staff and students with the intent of providing benefits to the well-being of people and the environment. 

A series of water-focused workshops guided students to share their observations of the school and ideas to redevelop the proposed areas. The environmental science students surveyed their school and surroundings through a sewershed mapping activity after learning of water flow within their watershed. The group documented pollutants as potential hazards when it rains, and water spreads them. Loose gravel, oil spots from vehicles, paints, and overflowing trash were some of the pollutants observed by the group.  Students got the chance to use a Digital Observation Technology Skills, or DOTS, program kit. The DOTS kit allowed the group to study and explore the areas using a variety of innovative technology tools. The findings of the environmental science class guided them to hypothesize and search for potential solutions. 

The students were introduced to potential green solutions to their environmental concerns from the survey. Different types of green infrastructure were introduced for stormwater management and how those features can be activated to its fullest potential. The environmental science students in addition to other classmates and staff took part in a charette design led by Community Design Solutions (CDS). Everyone brainstormed their ideal features for the proposed redevelopment areas. The ideas were then brought to life by CDS through their renderings of how the collected ideas could look like. Raised garden beds, roof solar panels, and an outdoor classroom space are but a few of the ideas. After the conceptual plan draft received some feedback from the students and staff, the final conceptual plan was presented by the environmental science students to their classmates and staff. 

The series was closed by a presentation by Michael Timm about Milwaukee’s Future Waterscapes. Reflo and CDS created three future vantages for Reflo’s Milwaukee Community Map. Viewers can shift between modern Google Earth views and renderings of highly potential 2071 aerial views for Milwaukee's Confluence, Corridor, and Coast. The vantages are amazing resources and use of technology that visually share one potential future for our water-centric city.

digital microscope gallery

The gallery contains close-up images of various items captured using a digital microscope. Can you guess what items are in the gallery?

El Puente High School
1127 S. 35th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53215

SCHOOL SNAPSHOT

• 9th - 12th Grades

• Private School

• 115 Students

• Combined Sewer

• Menomonee River watershed

CONTACT INFORMATION

Molly Imbrie
Co-Director
El Puente High School
molly@elpuentehs.org

Renee Morrow
Co-Director
El Puente High School
renee@elpuentehs.org

VIDEOS

El Puente student interviews

Thank you to the United States Geological Survey and the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute for helping fund and support the Scientific Observation and Environmental Storytelling project.

USGS SOES Report Project Number - WR20E001