The University of Dayton is unveiling their new RiverMobile, a mobile learning studio that puts the region's five rivers on 18 wheels.
RiverMobile is a traveling exhibit converted from a semi-trailer that highlights one of our greatest local resources, the Great Miami River watershed. the mobile unit was built by students in the University's Rivers Institute, and local donors provided a lot of support for the project. It's being unveiled this morning as part of the sixth-annual River Summit at the University of Dayton River Campus.
"The design work is beautiful," says Leslie King from UD's Five Rivers Institute. "And then on top of that there are five learning classrooms within it that really teach you a lot about our region's rivers and our watershed from the beginning of history to the first settlers, the Sunwatch Indian Village, to then the flood and the flood protection to where we are today. So it really provides a holistic view of our area through the lens of the river."
King says the RiverMobile will being making stops at Miami Valley schools this fall.
"Our goal is to bring the river to the schools. There's no way to be able to bring every school child and every school to the river in the form of a field trip, and field trips are becoming increasingly difficult for schools anyway for economic reasons."
The unveiling of the RiverMobile closely coincides with 100th anniversary of the 1913 Dayton flood, which ushered in a new era for levy systems and flood control. The theme of the sixth-annual river Summit is "Looking towards the next 100 years of river leadership."
