Lake Doctor | A Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams Podcast

A Jump in the Lake: Environmental Education with Eddie Gill

• Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams • Season 2 • Episode 9

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In this episode of The Lake Doctor Podcast, we’re joined by Eddie Gill, Executive Director of The Friends of White River in Indianapolis, Indiana. Eddie shares how his organization connects people to the water through hands-on programs, community events, and environmental outreach. From river cleanups to outdoor education initiatives, he discusses the importance of creating opportunities for people of all ages to learn about and engage with their local ecosystems beyond the traditional classroom setting.

Together, we explore how experiential learning deepens our understanding of stewardship and inspires communities to take action for cleaner, healthier waterways. Eddie’s passion for accessible, outdoor education offers valuable insight into how organizations can work together to make conservation a shared responsibility.

Learn more about the Lilly Center's work at https://lakes.grace.edu/.

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SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for joining us on the Lake Doctor Podcast. I'm Susie Light, and my co-host, Dr. Nate Bosch, is an official professional lake nerd.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, no, that is actually true. So I got my doctorate from the University of Michigan in limnology. That's the study of freshwater lakes. In today's episode, we're so excited to have one of my former students, Eddie Gill. He's the executive director of the Friends of the White River. We're going to talk about environmental education outside. It's going to be great.

SPEAKER_01:

And we might learn why grandparents are so influential on both Dr. Nate and Eddie. The doctor is in the city.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks so much. I'm so happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I imagine you're kind of like back on campus because you are a Grace College grad.

SPEAKER_00:

That is correct. Yeah, it's exciting to be back here.

SPEAKER_01:

So tell us a bit about you.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, where do I start? Um so grew up in central Indiana my my whole life in the Indian Indianapolis area. Um and I've always had a passion for outdoorsy things. Um and through high school, that that really uh continued to grow. And then it the path became clear for me that that that was the field that I wanted to end up in. I played played sports in high school, basketball was the one that I wanted to continue with. Um and I decided that Grace College was the place for me, not only because of the basketball program, but because of the incredible environmental program. Um so that's the very short version of how I ended up here.

SPEAKER_01:

So, Eddie, tell us about the first time you came to campus. What was that like?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So the first time the first time I came to campus was for my basketball visit. Um so typically on basketball visits, I was on a thousand of them. They take you around the basketball facilities and they stick you with the basketball team and all those good things, which we did here. Uh, but Coach Moore knew that I was a big outdoors man and loved fishing. So he was like, you know what? I'm gonna stick him with this kid that works at the Willie Center and loves to fish. So on my basketball visit, uh for a couple hours, I spent fishing uh with Aaron, I believe, who was on the baseball team at the time. Um and then I think he maybe brought me up to the Willie Center and I spent some time in here. Um so it was real unique. Uh, but honestly, it was a big, big factor in why I ended up here. Um and I'll give it to Coach Moore. He knew what he was doing, putting me putting me with the with the environmental kids and up here at the Willie Center because I I got a small taste of what it could be like for the next four years, and it that really excited me.

SPEAKER_01:

So you went fishing on Winona Lake?

SPEAKER_00:

I went fishing on Winona Lake on my basketball recruiting visit. Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

That's wonderful. And Aaron Voral's been a guest on our podcast as well, and we're proud of him too, now working at a DNR fish hatchery. Yeah. And uh, so that's really fun.

SPEAKER_01:

And and how did your work here at the Lily Center help you with your current job?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, a couple different ways. Um, so I was fortunate enough to work in essentially just about every uh student department at the Lily Center during my time here. So the research team, the education team, the aquarium team, aquarium team, um, and all of those things really helped me on the environmental side of things and and how to um best educate kids and talk to kids about these different things. And then on the nonprofit side of things, now running a nonprofit organization, um, being able to work at a nonprofit for the five years I was here at Grace really helped prepare me for the more business side of things as well. So um it's extremely impactful. And I honestly could not have scripted it better, right? Like I it it it it is absolutely perfect that I worked at an environmental nonprofit all five years through college, and then just so happened to now be now be running one myself.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think God had a hand in that for sure. And and it's a good example of what we try to do for uh many of our students here, for all of our students in the environmental science program at Grace. We when they come in, we look at what their interests are, what their previous experiences are. Uh, we look at personalities and what their strengths are, give them some exposure to different classes where they can uh learn some new experiences like what Eddie was Eddie was describing. And then let's get some internship or re- and or research experiences that either confirm that direction that's kind of bubbling to the surface or deny it and we can pivot and move in a different direction. And what that does then is it prepares these students then for really thriving and flourishing, then once they get that first job, rather than being kind of shuffled through as a number as some would do in some uh college and university programs. And then the really the first chance to shine or not is that first job right out of school. And we've all along built a lot of things and and oriented things towards that student and what their interests are. And um Eddie's a great example of someone who's embraced uh that educational opportunity and uh is is um doing the most with it now as a professional. So I'm proud to call him a colleague now uh rather than a student.

SPEAKER_01:

So I know that your love for the outdoors probably came from your grandfather. So tell me a bit about like how did grandpa influence you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, great question. I love talking about this. Um my grandparents lived in Utah for half their life. Um, and uh I can remember when I was a little kid going to visit them and just going to little ponds and streams and lakes up in the mountains with him. Uh, and that love for just bugs and nature and plants and animals that just continued to grow over time, um, just doing different things with him outside. Uh, and and as I got older, we just kept on doing it. And that is that's where it all started. And and I I'm happy to say that I still do those types of things with him today.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's great to hear. And then I I understand too that you might have a child.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Have you taken her fishing yet?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Yep. I have a I have a two-year-old, uh, two-year-old little girl. Her name is Alani, and she absolutely loves the outside, uh, just like her dad. We do fishing and kayaking and canoeing and all those fun things. Go look for bugs together and frogs and worms. Um has she caught her first fish yet? She has kind of caught her first. She's not great at reeling them in, but uh she likes to touch them when we get them on the land.

SPEAKER_02:

Because oftentimes young kids are kind of like not wanting to touch them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she's she's good about all that stuff, pretty much except for sand. As long as it's not sand, she's uh she's good with it. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01:

And your grandma was an influence on you too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_01:

So tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um, well, obviously, because you know, I was always doing stuff together as a big family. We're all out there, and um just the the positive influence that she had in my life has just been tremendous, and and I can't, you know, speak highly enough about her for that.

SPEAKER_01:

So Nate, Nate, yeah, I think your grandpa influenced you a lot too.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh yeah, my grandpa and grandma, um, well, both both sides of the family, the my mom's side, grandparents' uh cottage up in northern Michigan, doing a lot of fishing growing up, and um uh lots of uh turtle hunting and different things on the lake there. And then my other grandparents, uh my grandpa had a tree farm. He was a barber, but also had a tree farm, so spent a lot of time there. And my grandma in particular, uh, she's still living now, and she um grew up coming here to Winona Lake, which is a really fun story. So um uh starts out sad, but it ends up great. She uh when she was a teenager, her younger brother died, and um, they were a farming family, and uh, my great-grandpa would take the family down uh here to uh Winona Lake for healing, refreshment, especially during that tough time. And so my grandma grew up coming down here lots of times. This was the era of Billy Sunday and Homer Rotaheaver and just some really cool Bible conferences and um the connection to family, the healing refreshment, those are things that still inspire me then being here as well. My grandma then took my dad and his siblings as they were growing up. That was more the era of Billy Graham here in this area, and so it's really fun family heritage. And my grandma still is praying a lot for the Lily Center for Lakes and Streams.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I hope she's listening to our podcast.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, so she's a wonderful support.

SPEAKER_01:

So you guys are both out catching fish. Did grandma teach you how to cook the fish?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, definitely. Yeah, that was one of my favorite things was to go catch some fish and then bring them home and eat them. Yeah. Uh my parents weren't always happy about the smell that we track into the house after after cleaning the fish, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. That's okay. So you're gonna teach those cooking skills to your daughter.

SPEAKER_02:

For sure. Good. Yes, definitely. And the fishing process, as Eddie knows, often can take a long time, and it especially did with my grandpa. Um, he would like to troll, he would like to troll for largemouth bass. And so he had this little, literally a two-horse motor on a little John boat, and we would go around the entire perimeter of that lake, and it would take about two hours to get around the perimeter. And so those fish then were were uh we were very excited to eat them by the time of that.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot of hard work and good reward.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So your love for the outdoors has evolved into an interesting profession for you. Tell us a bit about the work that you're doing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um, so I'm the executive director of an organization called Friends of the White River in Indianapolis. Um, and our our mission is is outdoor education at its core, right? And so we do several different programs. We do river cleanups, um, a river school program, which is our kind of our premier program. It's it's where we take groups of people out on whitewater rafts and we developed a curriculum uh to deliver to to our groups while we're out there on the river. So it's uh almost like uh on the water classroom for for the environment. That's the things that they're seeing while they're out there paddling. Um so we talk about things like erosion, uh, wetlands, native species, invasive species, all of those different things, um, and and how we play a part into the greater scheme of things. Um a big thing that that I really like to emphasize is what can individuals do uh at the individual and household level just to make a difference in their own lives every single day.

SPEAKER_01:

So you're creating water literate citizens.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the goal.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. That's awesome. Eddie, we heard you had a really awesome summer with your students. Tell us what you've been doing this summer.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's it's been great. It's been incredible. Um, so throughout June and July, we did six weeks of youth summer camp, and that was for ages 12 through 18, so more of the high school demographic. Um, and it was a four-day camp, so Monday through Thursday. They would come out, we'd go out, take them on the river in the morning, and then we'd come back, have lunch, and then in the afternoon we'd do some educational games and more uh outdoor things like shelter building or fire making or um fishing, all sorts of different outside environmental activities just to give the chance the kids a chance to have some fun. Um so that was throughout June and July. We did that summer camp program.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, do these same campers they come back week after week, or if is it a different group each of the group, different group each week?

SPEAKER_00:

So the way that we worked it out this summer, um, we had a couple weeks where we hosted like an open enrollment camp just through Friends of the White River. Then we had a camp that we hosted for some of our partner organizations, and then we had a camp with Indie Parks. Indie Parks handled all the registration and coordination of all the kids and everything, and then we did two with Fisher Sparks. Um and then moving into the fall, August and September, we kind of transition out of that summer camp model and then move into the field trip model. So we have um throughout August and September, all field trips with sixth graders. It's a partnership with Riverside Intermediate, it's a school uh middle school in the Fishers district. Um, so we're taking out all their sixth graders this fall, about 400, between four and five hundred sixth graders. All on rafts. All on rafts, yeah. Wow, a class a class a day. Um, I think we have 19 or 20 classes. Wow. Um so busy summer and fall, but it it's awesome. I I love doing it and I I love working with so many kids. And uh to your point about multiplication, I think that's exactly it, right? I get to get to reach so many different minds um and and plant these seeds of of the next water stewards and water leaders in the community.

SPEAKER_01:

So one of the things that you learned at Grace College was about the environment, but your degree here wasn't environmental science, was it?

SPEAKER_00:

Undergrad was environmental science, and then graduate degree was nonprofit management.

SPEAKER_01:

Excellent job.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Tell us a bit about the trip that you took that um kind of inspired you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um so in 2021, I I took a trip called Journey for a Cause. Um the trip was a a trip by boat from Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River to Navarre Beach, Florida, um in the Gulf.

SPEAKER_01:

So I So you had to navigate the Mississippi River?

SPEAKER_00:

So we decided to go the Tennessee River route. Ah so we went from the Ohio River to the Tennessee to the Tom Bigby Waterway uh out into Mobile Bay in Alabama and then the Intercoastal Waterway through Alabama and Florida, making our way to Navarre. And the entire purpose for that trip was to inspire um other people like me to get outside, go enjoy outdoors, and also promote that we need as a as a community to to ensure that everyone has access to this, right? Because for me growing up, it was really easy to go outside and I had my pick of 10, 15 different nature parks within 20 minutes of my house. That's just not the case for everybody. Um and I think that's a that's uh very unfortunate, it's a disservice to to our community as a whole. Um the benefits of of outdoor recreation and outdoor education um are are just really incredible for the individual and then for the community and society as a whole as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Nate, how do you help students understand that kind of aspect?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think it starts as Ezy was describing with being outside, right? It's so much better to learn about our environment by being out in it versus being in a classroom. And I think that can be a disservice that a lot of us as educators have done over the years, where we have brought it into a classroom. It's been a list of um vocab words and factoids to memorize rather than something that's inspiring and brings curiosity and critical thinking and a sense of stewardship and an ethic to take care of it with whatever we as individuals can do, the way Eddie was just describing that. So I love to do environmental education in the environment, hands-on, uh, investigative. And that seems to resonate most with the students as well. It resonated with Eddie and look at uh what he is doing now with his career. And um, that's what we're going for with water literate citizens. And so we need that inspiration factor that's gonna carry on and influence their decision making even years into the future.

SPEAKER_01:

So, Eddie, when you were a student here, what was a memorable outside experience that you had with Nate?

SPEAKER_00:

What wasn't? What wasn't? Um I don't know. I tell people all the time about the prairie burns and our trip to the rookery, uh, the trip to a bog that felt like we were jumping on trampoline in the in the middle of a giant field. Um but all of those things just continued to further my interest and curiosity, uh, because I I will I will admit, although I was an environmental kid my entire life, right, there's a lot of things that um I was just completely unaware of, and I had no idea about how some of this stuff worked and how we um played a huge role in all these different things, right? So I think from my perspective now, like it's my job to be intentional with every single person that I bring out uh to the river in Indianapolis to teach them about best water practices in a very intentional way, right? Like not overboarding them with a million like high-level science-y terms, but really something that that's digestible for for the everyday person to understand and to to really resonate with, like, why does this matter to me? And and how is it that my actions impact all of this, right? So I think that's a huge part of my job, and I put a ton of emphasis on that now.

SPEAKER_01:

If you are only listening to our podcast, you missed seeing Eddie's face light up when he was talking about this. It is it is wonderful to see your enthusiasm. Do you have any memorable, you know, Indianapolis? People think of Indianapolis as a big city and and they maybe are unaware that White River runs through Indianapolis. Tell us, do you have any like stories of something where a kid that you were teaching said, Wow, I didn't know this was here?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I have a million stories. I I think the one I'd like to share is about our field trip program that we have going on right now with a school called Riverside Intermediate. Um, and just like like it sounds, the school is quite literally along the banks of the river, right? It backs up to the river. Um so we're taking all their sixth graders out this fall. And the other day I had a student tell me that he had no idea there was a river uh in Indianapolis. So not only did he not realize that there was a river in Indian Indianapolis where he lived, he didn't realize there was a river uh less than a quarter mile away from him every single day where he goes to school. Um and I think that that's super powerful because 70, 80% of greater Indianapolis gets its drinking water from the river, right? Like the river that is the the natural resource of central Indiana. Um we use it for everything. And I have adults that we take out tell me that same thing all the time. Oh, I I drive over this every day, but I really I've never even looked at it. And to Nate's point earlier, you know, it it's hard to care about something if you've uh never seen it or you don't understand it. So my goal is to bring people out so that they can one see it and then hopefully start to better understand it. And then ultimately the goal is to help them learn how to care for it.

SPEAKER_01:

So Friends of the White River have been around a while.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

It it isn't something you founded, but you're the executive director. How long has it been in existence? And what kind of model is it that maybe others that are listening to us could implement where they live?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So it's been around since 1985. It started as a group of fishermen that were like, we're sick of seeing trash in the river. So really started as just kind of like this cleanup organization, right? Um, and then it just has evolved over time. There was a fish kill in 1999 uh in the White River that just completely decimated the entire ecosystem there that really propelled the organization into its next chapter of life. Um, and then in the early 2000s, uh we began the river school program, which is where we actually brought people out onto the river. Um and now we do several programs. So we do the the river program where we're we're teaching people out there on the river in rafts, we do our cleanup programs on land and canoes, um, and then we also do um a program called Stream Stewards, where we go visit with developers or landowners, homeowners associations, and we essentially host a workshop uh in partnership with the Marion County uh or the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District. And we we teach them how to better manage their land, right? How to bet be better stewards of the land that they own or reside on and and teach them about the different practices that that they can do there at the the individual level or small community level that that can impact uh not only right there where they're at, but but also the whole watershed.

SPEAKER_01:

Nate, I hear echoes of things that we're doing here in Cassiasco County when Eddie is talking about connecting with agencies and or homeowners associations. Um how do you like working with those kind of entities? What do we do best at Lilly Center when interfacing with those?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think when it comes to collaboration, it all comes down to for me, effectiveness and efficiency. We can be more effective. There's a sense of synergy when groups are working together. There's also an increased efficiency because when those groups are all working in their area of strength that can be really powerful then. And so at the Lilly Center, we've always come at uh our work with a collaborative, um, arms wide open, ready to embrace what whatever uh project there is to be worked on, whatever other organizations we can work with on a particular project, and we end up with uh much better results because we are willing to work with other people.

SPEAKER_01:

Friends of the White River and Lily Center both are working toward creating water literate citizens at all ages.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And what is the most critical thing that you want those water literate citizens to understand?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think for me, because I I work with kids a lot, so it's gotta be really simple, right? But um I think the biggest thing for us is just like this matters to you, like this is your existence. Without these water resources, there is no us. And that is super simplified, and there are a thousand different things that go into it. But when I'm talking to a sixth grader and they don't know anything about the watershed or uh the water cycle, how these different things work, how we play a part in it, just getting them to understand that this is literally life, that for me is really impactful to get that across to these kids at a younger age. Once we start taking adults out and and and groups like that, you know, we can we can talk about some other things and uh what what they can do and and and why they should care more, right? Logistically and and technically. But when we have kids out, it is it's super simple for me. And it's it's just as simple as that. Like this is this is life, this is you.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you find those students um talking to their parents about it and then their parents trying to connect with you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that happens all the time, and that's that's a win for us. Like it's that that makes my day when I have a kid that goes uh goes home and he's excited or she's excited to tell their mom and dad about what they did and what they learned about. Um, and then I get a call or text or email uh thanking us just for what we did with their student that day. That's that's that's a great day in my book.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think to to kind of sum that up, it would be understanding first. There needs to be some sort of motivation. So as Eddie was talking about, water is really important for our lives. For an older audience, we can talk about how water is often important for bringing families together, whether it's at a lake or along a river somewhere. Um, motivator of economic development, oftentimes in our communities where our water resources really help drive our economies. And once we get those pieces in place, I feel like then on top of that, we can start talking about behavior and responsibility and things that people can do to positively influence those things. But if we don't have any motivation or understanding, we're not going to be able to get somebody to change how they behave around one of our water resources.

SPEAKER_01:

Need to answer the why.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I think also for kids and and younger audiences, it's important for them to have fun while they're experiencing these things because then they feel the sense of connection to it. Um and if they're enjoying something while they're learning, to Nate's point earlier about, you know, we can put kids in classrooms and give them these huge long vocab lists, but when they're actually out there experiencing it firsthand, they're getting their hands and feet wet. I think it's just a completely different feeling um for e for each kid.

SPEAKER_01:

Feeling the tug of a fish on the end of the line.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So here at the Lily Center, we do lots of different educational programs. The outdoor kinds, which we've been talking about, the indoor kinds where we have field trips coming through our Lily Center facility here. We go out into local libraries as well. And um we have grown that program to now over 12,000 student connections every year. And these are engaging, sort of um life-inspiring uh opportunities for these kids. And uh I'll mention here, uh, because it's now public knowledge, that we received the governor's award for the top environmental education program in all of the state of Indiana. I expect you to get that soon as well, Eddie, with Friends of the White River. Um, and I we we've gotten that award now twice. I don't know of any other organization that's gotten it twice. And that's just a testament to our educators who are working so hard on our Lily Center team here with all of our local schools and just the engagement from our local schools, teachers and administrators and students uh coming here and doing all these educational programs. And part of that is what we're talking about. It's engaging environmental education, it's not reading a textbook or or memorizing a bunch of facts, it's um an inspirational sort of project-based learning environment that we provide.

SPEAKER_01:

And the curriculum is based on Indiana state standards for teachers. And Eddie, you mentioned you have a curriculum that you teach in partnership with the schools, and I would imagine the same kind of thing. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yep, correct. Yeah. So on our field trip, we do uh several different stations, and each one of those stations hits a certain target point for that school. Really cool.

SPEAKER_01:

You have to be so proud of your student.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Yeah, it it we talk at the Lily Center a lot about multiplication, and we multiply our efforts through having like this past school year, we had 46 college student interns like Eddie working here at the Lily Center, multiplying our efforts throughout our communities. But it has a continuing multiplication effect even after they graduate, as Eddie's a great example of. Now he's in a new community in the Indianapolis area and continuing to have an impact. And he's got people working under him that he's pouring into and mentoring, and they're learning how to do environmental education, and it just keeps growing and growing. It's really satisfying.

SPEAKER_01:

So I hope you're wearing like your grace college garb. It's when you're working, Eddie, and when you see some young, talented kid who is looking to where he might go to college, or grandparents, as you're listening, you may want to be an influence like Eddie's grandparents were to him and Nate's grandparents were to him. Encourage them to look at the Lily Center and the wonderful curriculum here for students at Grace College. We are so thankful that you found your way here, Eddie. And it Basketball aside, right? It was an important motivation to get here. But the fact that you are now multiplying, as Nate said, we are so proud of you. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, the the the ball was gonna stop bouncing at some point. So I had to find a place that that I felt uh really confident in that would that would help propel me into the next phase of my life. And the Willie Center and Grace College was it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and you made the most of of that wonderful opportunity. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Lake Doctor Podcast. You can share your thoughts or submit a question by leaving a comment or sending an email to lakes at Grace.edu.

SPEAKER_02:

Listening to this podcast is just the first step to making your lake cleaner and healthier. Visit lakes.grace.edu for more information about our applied research and discover some tangible ways that you can make a difference on your lake.

SPEAKER_01:

We'll see you next time. The Doctor is in.