Nell Gehrke grew up running over the tops of hay bales and skipping rocks across rivers in southern Minnesota. She carried the love she had for her childhood pastimes into her undergraduate education. Nell is pursuing a major in Environmental Studies from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a student on the Fall 2018 River Semester journey (infamous for the bad weather experienced), during which she explored the topic of the decolonization of food systems and the relationship between food systems and urban settlement along the river. While paddling the river as part of the Anthropocene River Journey, she hopes to study the public’s perception of the Mississippi and in particular their sense of connection or disconnection with it. In the summer of 2019 she participated in intensive field research of public perceptions of sources and the extent of water pollution in the Red Cedar River watershed. After finishing her undergraduate studies, Nell hopes to continue on to graduate school in environmental studies or public policy.