DRSL Projects - Detroit River Story Lab

DRSL Projects

Youth Leadership Council

Through a series of workshops, field trips, and meetings, youth participants of the Youth Leadership Council develop their leadership skills, learn about the river’s relationship to local communities, and explore a wide variety of attractive educational and career pathways in STEM, public humanities, and the skilled trades.

River Opportunity Pathway Profiles

Detroit River Scholars is a free, week-long day camp that explores connections, past and present, between the Detroit River and adjoining communities. Daily field trips to riverside parks, museums, and historical sites provide engaging, hands-on learning opportunities focused on the river’s rich environmental and cultural heritage.

Detroit River Education Coalition

The Detroit River Education Coalition, motivated by the vision of an historic waterway transformed into a living classroom, develops high-impact, experiential learning opportunities for students of all ages from the communities along its shores. Since 2021, Coalition partners have expanded the number and reach of place-based educational programs and laid the groundwork for continued growth and community engagement.

Detroit River Scholars

Detroit River Scholars is a free, week-long day camp that explores connections, past and present, between the Detroit River and adjoining communities. Daily field trips to riverside parks, museums, and historical sites provide engaging, hands-on learning opportunities focused on the river’s rich environmental and cultural heritage.

The Detroit River Beat

The Story Lab sponsors student internships with nonprofit news organizations, such as Bridge Detroit, Planet Detroit, and Detroit Public Television, to assist thinly stretched staff in the coverage of river-related stories and works with partners to develop new local training opportunities, on campus and in the community, for both student and citizen journalists.

"People, Place, & Things" logo: subtitled "Belle Isle Stories", over a photo of Belle Isle, Detroit

People, Place, & Things

People, Place, & Things is an ongoing collection of stories about Belle Isle and the impact it has on those who visit and nurture it. Each month, we’ll post tales of people whose lives have been transformed, those who have found healing, community, and spiritual renewal through their connection to this unique place.

Communicating the Impacts of Climate Change

The goal of this case is to help students communicate about their observations, solutions, and the impacts of CO2 emissions on one neighborhood in Detroit. As a final project, they use sources of data and local stories to write an open letter or produce a digital project addressed to members of one of these neighborhoods. Teachers may also use this case to communicate the impacts of CO2 emissions in students’ own neighborhoods and communities beyond the scope of this Gala case.

The House that Changed Lives

A lesson plan based on the life and community building work of Sarah E Ray, an activist known as the Rosa Parks of the Boblo Boat. Consisting of a comprehensive, multi-media discussion guide and a curated collection of archival materials for classroom use, this adaptable curricular module will support social science classes at the middle and high school level throughout the Detroit River region.

Interpretive Signage for Historic Fort Wayne

Site installations and online content, including a timeline, in support of a new interpretive plan for Historic Fort Wayne, with topics including environmental history, profiles of local civilian employees, migration and ethnic histories of southwest Detroit, Fort Wayne’s connection to the Underground Railroad, and little known Indigenous and colonial-era histories.

University of Michigan-Detroit River Story Lab-Trenton

Great Lakes Way @ Trenton

A Storymap project imagining possible futures for disused industrial sites along the Detroit River in Trenton, featuring historical contexts, interviews, and captivating site renderings. The project was created by students in a DRSL-linked Public Design Corps studio class at UM’s Taubman College.

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