Making Waves is a multi-modality interdisciplinary learning expedition where students will travel by boot, by raft, and by sea kayak, tracing the Penobscot River watershed from near its headwaters to the Gulf of Maine where it meets the sea in order to contemplate how human communities and natural ecosystems are impacted by and responding to the challenges of the 21st century. As we hike, float, and paddle, we will encounter firsthand the land, river, and seascapes of this region and the people who call it home, engaging with the complex narratives they tell.

Our stops along the way will include prominent sites like Mount Katahdin, the Penobscot Nation at Indian Island, and the Island Institute and conversations with local experts in art, working waterfronts, ecology, and Indigenous culture, among others. These local stakeholders will help us contemplate how watersheds create living places and how people shape their lives and livelihoods within them. The program encourages students to explore the Maine coast’s significance through diverse perspectives, while fostering intellectual diversity through conversations across disciplines. By the time we pull our kayaks out of the water, we will have developed an intellectual, emotional, and embodied understanding of this place as both a socio-ecological entity and a metaphor for something larger--a paradigm, perhaps, for living well in a place wherever we go.