The Detroit River Story Lab sponsors student internships and freelancing arrangements with community news organizations, such as Bridge Detroit, Planet Detroit, and Telegram Newspaper, to provide coverage of river-related stories and training opportunities for aspiring young journalists. The published articles below were all researched and written by U-M undergraduates, graduate students, and recent alumni.
All Posts
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Detroit’s Port Authority sustainability manager works to cut emissions, build trust with neighbors
Taylor Mitchell, Detroit Wayne County Port Authority’s inaugural sustainability manager, spearheads initiatives to curb diesel emissions and achieve net zero emissions at 23 private terminals along the Detroit and Rouge rivers by 2040.
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A City Reconnects with the River: Sail Detroit 2025
Margaret Fornes, August 25, 2025 — Last week, visitors of all ages came to the Detroit Wayne County Port Authority to see four tall ships dock on the Detroit Riverfront for Sail Detroit 2025. This festival, part of the Great Lakes Challenge organized by Tall Ships America, alternates between the Pacific Coast, the Atlantic Coast, and the Great Lakes.
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Forging Detroit River connections in a boat shed with community storykeepers
(U-M Detroit | August 5, 2025) Twice a week this summer, middle and high school students have been donning matching blue lab aprons, rubber gloves, and safety goggles to work as a team to construct sailboats. By the end of the program, the students will have created a sailboat from scratch, complete with a sail and name.
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Detroit’s ghost streams: Maps of hidden waterways combat city’s flooding problem
Rachel Wilson, Planet Detroit, July 15, 2025
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Meeting River People at the Youth Career Expo
Margaret Fornes, April 21, 2025 — At the third annual Detroit River Youth Career Expo last weekend, there was a special program featuring conversations with four notable “river people” from Detroit, who shared with students stories about both their work and their local communities’ relationships—past, present, and future—with the River.
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Can Detroit students see themselves in their course work? District wants them to weigh in.
Esther Launstein, Chalkbeat Detroit, August 1, 2024
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How Black Journalists in Detroit and Canada Have Passed their Pens Along the River
Saarthak Johri and Courtney DuChene, Telegram Newspaper, June 27, 2024
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Why Friends of the Detroit River’s volunteers are key to its success
Brady McKillop, Planet Detroit, June 20, 2024
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Invasive species an ongoing risk tied to Great Lakes maritime transport
Charlotte Parent, Bridge Detroit, May 26, 2024
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Maritime trade poses environmental risks along Detroit River
Charlotte Parent, Bridge Detroit, May 22, 2024
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Watershed Activist Shares Views on Long-Term Work of Environmental Stewardship
Patricia Jewell, Planet Detroit, Nov 18, 2021.
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Decarbonizing the Detroit River: Navigating the links between transit and water with David Gifford
Patricia Jewell, Planet Detroit, Nov 11, 2021
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