My Future in River Stewards by Cassie Rafter, 2024 Cohort

    I see a plethora of growth and learning opportunities for myself in the future of the program. My cohort and I have spent a lot of this semester and last becoming familiar with the Dayton community and learning about the Rivers surrounding us. I’m excited to start building more personal relationships with Dayton's community leaders, some of who we’ve already had the pleasure to work with. In the future, I see myself and fellow River Stewards serving the community by working towards fulfilling its needs. 

    Not only will we serve our community through our capstone project but we’ll serve the community through education. Educational outreach is so important when it comes to our rivers and the sustainability of future life. Some recent educational outreach work my cohort and I have done is creating an informational video and worksheets for Dayton's Children's Water Festival later this month. In my future time as a River Steward, I’d love to be able to connect with the youth in Dayton. Like many other things during the pandemic, it has been difficult to organize in-person events. Although restrictions are being to be lifted it gives me hope that we will soon be able to work with after-school programs and continue to spread our knowledge and love for our watershed to the younger generations living in Dayton. 

    Another thing that I’d like to accomplish in my future within the River Stewards program is to increase the student body's knowledge and awareness of our Rivers and how unique/important they are. In the near future, a fellow stew and I are trying to organize a river clean-up with the guidance of the river stewards 2022 cohort. I think trying to involve the student body in large hands-on types of volunteer work surrounding the rivers could be a catalyst for the River Stewards program. Although the most meaningful service the River Stewards do tends to be in our smaller groups where relationships can be created and mutually beneficial, I think we should utilize the reach we do have to potentially spread the river love all over campus!