Lake Michigan, USA

My Watermark is Lake Michigan, Indiana.

I remember as a child our parents taking my sister and I to Chicago to the beaches. I just remember how fun it was being out there in the natural aspects, enjoying the water, the sand, and all the people. It was a very warming and exciting experience as a child.

That experience as a child – where I was just free to walk the waters, kick my feet through the sand, and build sandcastles – is still important in my work today because I oversee a lot of the construction projects, where we ensure that we are addressing combines to our overflows, (and) addressing sewer cave-ins. I want to make sure that generations after me, and generations now, have the same ability to go to any beach, and enjoy the sand and the waters that would be free of sewer overflows or any contaminates. That experience still resonates with me today and my work day-to-day.

As a child when I would travel, and in college during summer breaks, I always wanted to make sure that I got to the beach. At a minimum, I could kick my feet through the sand and have the natural waters touch my feet. It’s a wonderful feeling to be connected to water and nature, and we have to protect it.