From January 28 through March 20, the Critical Global Citizenship Project Team and Skyline College Library hosted the State of Water exhibit to invite the campus community to reflect on where our water comes from, the systems that sustain it, and our shared responsibility in protecting this essential resource. As the exhibit concluded, two community-centered events brought its themes to life through dialogue, creativity, and connection.
On March 5, over 120 students attended a panel discussion on water stewardship from multiple perspectives: regional infrastructure, land-based practices, and Indigenous knowledge. Library faculty Dr. Pia Walawalkar opened the event and introduced the panelists, followed by Vice President of Instruction Dr. Carol Hernandez, who connected the conversation to Skyline College’s mission and values of social justice, environmental sustainability, and community engagement.
Facilitated by Phi Theta Kappa officers Knox Lwin and Qian Zhao, the panel featured Willa Brock (Filoli), Tom Francis (BAWSCA), and Sara Moncada (Association of Ramaytush Ohlone). Panelists explored the complexity of the Bay Area’s water system and the broader meaning of stewardship. Tom Francis emphasized the technical and everyday relevance of water management and encouraged students to see the “water field” as both expansive and accessible. Willa Brock shared how Filoli models sustainability through climate-appropriate planting and land care, while Sara Moncada invited students to understand water as sacred and relational. Together, they encouraged curiosity, awareness, and active engagement, from tracking personal water use to connecting more directly with the natural world.
Faculty support played a key role in student participation, thanks to Professors Dr. Jing Folsom, Dr. Susanne Schubert, Kim Touneh, and Rob Williams, who brought their classes, as well as many instructors who offered extra credit.
On March 11, the campus community gathered for a Community Poetry and Art Workshop led by Aileen Cassinetto, a Filipino American poet, co-founder of Paloma Press, 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, and winner of the 2025 Foley Poetry Prize. She guided participants through a collaborative process blending personal reflection with environmental themes. Professor Rob Williams brought his class, and the workshop also drew students, faculty, and staff from across campus.
Participants created “graphic poems” using magazine cuttings and written responses to prompts, exploring ideas of water, place, and belonging. These were later woven into a collective poem, “Watershed,” now published as part of The Nature of Our Times. The piece brings together student voices with excerpts from historical and legal texts, including the California Constitution, the Raker Act, and a recent United Nations agreement on marine biodiversity, and highlights the connections between policy, history, and lived experience.
Together, these events transformed the State of Water exhibit into an active, interdisciplinary experience and invited students not only to learn about water but also to think critically, feel deeply, and imagine their role in shaping a more just and sustainable future.
All of these efforts – the State of Water exhibit and the two accompanying events – were made possible through the President’s Innovation Fund grant and were planned and implemented by the Critical Global Citizenship Education Project team, including Rachel Cunningham, Thanh Nguyen, Dr. Susanne Schubert, Dr. Pia Walawalkar, and Rob Williams, with the indispensable support of library staff and student assistants.
Article by Pia Walawalkar, written with the assistance of ChatGPT
Photographs by Mei Lee
