Over 400 students reached this Fall in America's River Roots workshops!

Thanks to support from the Nellie Leaman Taft Foundation, The Well was able to create, publish, and share our America's River Roots workbook with over 400 students across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky this Fall totaling in 17 free in-person sessions.

The America’s River Roots workbook was created in conjunction with the America’s River Roots Festival that took place in October 2026. The workbook is grounded in the themes of the river and explores a wide range of subjects – art, science, history, poetry, music, movement, and mindfulness. As we do with all programming at The Well, we tailored each session to the students we were visiting. Each school visit brought new questions, new creative sparks, and a fresh reminder of how eager young people are to learn when given space to explore and be curious.

• With our Elementary School friends, we guided classrooms through a meditation prompting students to imagine floating down a river, we moved our bodies fast and slow to our Sounds of The River playlist, and ‘danced’ with our markers to create interpretive drawings. The joy and curiosity in these rooms were contagious—students eagerly shared movements with the class and many proudly held up their interpretive artwork that captured both realistic riversides and abstract explorations.
• In the 5th grade sessions, our River Roots friends put on their creative writing hats and wrote river-themed poems using metaphors and similes. Then, they each performed one line from their poems to create wonderfully sweet collaborative group poems. The group poems celebrated each student’s unique voice and demonstrated that with collaboration, they made something truly special.
• For our Middle School classes, we shared about the need for safe spaces throughout history and asked each student to consider what people, places, or things make them feel safe. We then created safe space “logos” that could signify that a place was teen-friendly. What emerged were relatable conversations about belonging, identity, and community, and students created designs that were —visual reminders that young people know exactly what they need to feel supported.

New School Montessori Meditation

Mulberry Elementary 5th graders show off their interpretive artwork

Mulberry Elementary 5th graders during a guided meditation

Bracken County Middle Schoolers create shared safe spaces

Mulberry Elementary students share their collaborative poem.

Bracken County Elementary students pose after a fun session of movement & meditation.