New league of heroes draws students into stories of sewers, streams, service
How a utility turned a middle-school challenge into a comic book full of color, creativity, and connections.
Educating middle schoolers can be tough. Sure, they’re ready to start learning complex information, but they’re allergic to boredom and have zero interest in dry explanations of complicated educational concepts.
But tell them a story of superheroes battling supervillains, and you’ve got their undivided attention.
Now, all you have to do is make sure your narrative is just as educational as it is engaging.
This was the thinking behind the Sewer District’s decision to develop a comic book featuring a stream team, a cast of sewer heroes, characters who possess superpowers and represent all aspects of our vital work — from our tunnels and treatment plants to our lab, from streambanks to fish tanks. The evolution of the Lake Erie League is a story of a creative collaboration transforming vision into reality.
While the Lake Erie League is the dreamchild of the Sewer District’s Communications & Community Relations department and the project is spearheaded by Communications Production Lead Mike Uva, it was always clear that outside help would be needed to best bring the League to life.
Since 2023, Mike has worked with two external collaborators: local artist Miguel Hernandez and high-school science teacher Joe Siracki. Joe is also a writer who previously published two original graphic novels, and Miguel spent a decade as a preschool teacher and now teaches illustration at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Both understand the powerful impact that comics can have on kids. “I was one of those kids who would sneak comic books into school,” Miguel said.
“Most of my early reading came from comics,” Joe added. “Through comics, students can visualize concepts they may typically struggle with. It also allows for humor to be entwined with educational content.”
To get the project moving initially, Sewer District team members created a list of potential narratives and superpower premises: a crisis at a treatment plant, for example, and a Transformers-like tunnel boring machine character that ultimately became League leader Mackenzie.
Colleagues lent their expertise to ensure that the concepts taught in the comic are accurate — and that our approach is best-suited to reach middle-school audiences. That’s where Public Information Specialist Jessica Shutty and Strategic Partnership Lead Danny Neelon played important roles. Their relationships with educators across the region helped ensure the content opportunities aligned with actual curriculums in middle-school classrooms, resulting in a set of worksheets teachers could use to accompany the comic book covering topics like science, weather, the water cycle, and more.
Neelon and Uva recently talked about the creative and scholastic journey on our Clean Water Works Podcast, S3:E20.
Issue #1, which debuted in print at Clean Water Fest September 20 and is available as a digital download online, features the origin stories of all eight characters — Mackenzie, Vis, Doctor Tau, Carl the Cuyahoga Creature, Spectra, Botanica, Overwatch, and Rover. And it introduces villains that the League will battle as they fight to protect and preserve clean waterways.
If you are an educator interested in a set of comic books for your class, worksheets, or presentation from one of our experts, contact us today.
Originally story by Internal Communication Lead Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz with updates from Communications Manager John Gonzalez.
