The students and managers are putting the finishing touches on their projects

The semester is coming to a end, our college project managers and students are getting the finishing touches done on their projects and we all are excited to see what they come up with.  Reading through these particular blogs you can see that many of the managers had a few challenges that they had to overcome and the experience that they have had thus far with their students.  We are extremely excited to see what students come up with and how much everyone has learned not only about water but also about themselves.

“My experiences with Lead to Succeed has impacted my understanding with water. I am now more informed on what is happening around me. I didn't really think about stuff that goes on with water. I go to the grocery store buy a pack of water and didn't realize that I am spending more than I realized. Water that you get from home is cheaper than the water that you buy at the store. Also, the difference between the two has no difference in quality. Your water at home actually may be better for you in general. These are just some things that I have learned from my group. 

My project has one step left and will be complete. They have finished their slide show and are waiting for a group member to upload their voices in the slide show. So, one step left and their slide show on water will be complete. The challenges that we face in Lead to Succeed is not how the project is turning out but whether or not people will show up. People in the groups have jobs or other activities with school that sometimes derail them from going to Lead to Succeed. That is why it is always helpful that when you are in the groups you know what is happening with every part in the project so when someone is gone it might be your turn to step up and solve the problem within the group. Instead of waiting til so and so shows up again. 

Everyone in the group is great. They are regulars that are always there day in and day out. I feel that my group worked hard on their project. Each person knew what their job was and all got together to get the project done. I do not have a particular but I have the group as a whole. I feel that with out each other in the group they probably would not have gotten as far as they did. Each person had a role and fulfilled their role perfectly. I feel that my group should be happy with what they have accomplished and not giving up on their goal of finishing what they started. Great job!”

-Joel Guidinger

“At the Wisconsin Conservatory for Lifelong Learning, there are two projects being worked on. One, a board game, is a presentation for elementary school students, while the other, an animated video, is a presentation for middle school students.

The board game group, which I am working with, has pretty much completed the game. It’s put together well, and we ran through it at the last session to make sure everything runs smoothly (it does). My experience with this group is not having much of an impact on my understanding of water issues in Southeastern Wisconsin. Many of the trivia questions are things I already knew (water cycle, what water is used for, etc.) but this is to be expected as the game is for third grade students.

I plan on watching the animated video that the other group has made, and I have a feeling that that will give me a better understanding of water issues in the area. I believe that group has completed their video, but as I haven’t been working with them, I have not yet had the chance to view it. There’s been a drastic change in attitude from mid-February (when I began working with the students) to now (beginning of April). There has been a great increase in productivity, which can be attributed to their projects taking shape and actually having specific goals for each student and each session in general. The next session is not for three more weeks, as the Conservatory is now on spring break.”

-Nick Lister

“This week we have spring break so we do not meet this week. But as the weeks have been flying by we have accomplished a lot in our projects. As the semester is coming to an end, our attendance at the beginning of the semester was not very high, but lately we have had great attendance in our after school program. It is such a great feeling that our numbers are high again and our student's are participating! It makes myself feel great because, it shows they enjoy our presence and being here. Our projects are coming a long well and our student's have been very hard working and have accomplished a lot! 

This service learning site has been very fun and very interesting. We are not only teaching our student's but they are also teaching us. We have learned all about water, careers with water, and sanitation processes in Milwaukee because of all the use of water. A majority of time we all don't realize how much water we are using. This service learning project is very unique because people don't realize how many galloons of water you use each and every day!
I really enjoy these kids and this service learning project!  It has been a great experience and a blessing to help these kids!”

-Mercedes Brown

“Unfortunately, we have not reached the water topic in my Environmental Science class at UWM. We will be starting that unit in the next week or so. In the past I have learned a lot about water the different ways it can impact our environment, so I’m not learning too much with this project. But, I’ve never really had to focus on the different types of water bottles and where the water comes from. In the beginning of this project the students did some research on water bottles such as FIJI, Smart Water, Ice Mountain and Dasani, and surprisingly some of the information they researched was new to me. Overall, this project has been pretty informative in ways I was expecting it to be.

The art part of the project has been a little challenging because it’s taking time to paint bottle caps and glue them onto a poster. Whenever you work with paint and a time limit, things can get pretty tough but the students I’ve been working with have been outstanding. Honestly, they stay focused throughout the hour and a half, and continue to socialize with me and the other students. They all work really well together and don’t argue about who wants to paint, who wants to research, and who wants to glue. Since they all work as a team, this certain challenge hasn’t been a big problem at all!

Most of the students are from different schools, and they’re different age groups so some of the students themselves were meeting each other for the first time. With that being said, they’ve been getting to know each other and they find things in common which brings them closer. I’ve been working with the art project and the research part, so I’ve been talking to different students each time. I would rather try to get to know different students in the short time I have because they’re all so different and I’ve never worked with this type of group before. But, on the other side of things, I have connected a little bit with the other mentor who also goes to UWM. We’re in the same science class so we get to talk about our projects, tests, and assignments. She’s easy to talk to and that makes the session even better. ”

-Rudi Hauser