On July 13, in Chiang Khong, northern Thailand, local high school students worked alongside students and faculty from Duke Kunshan University in a filmmaking workshop along the Mekong River.
The one-day filmmaking workshop, co-led by the Mekong School: Institute of Local Knowledge and DKU, offered technical filmmaking training. In addition, it became an invitation for students to reflect on their relationship with the river, the land, and one another, while rethinking how youth can lead conversations about environmental change and cultural preservation. The river was framed not just as a natural resource, but as a source of stories, culture, and community knowledge.
The workshop was part of the Mekong Youth Program, a long-running initiative by The Mekong School: Institute of Local Knowledge. Each month, student volunteers head out to different sections and tributaries of the Mekong River to test water quality and document the changes they observe—an increasingly urgent task for local communities whose lives depend on the river. In northern Thailand, testing efforts reveal alarming signs coming from upstream rare earth mining operations in Myanmar. The ongoing mining has released sediment laced with arsenic and other heavy metals into the Kok, Sai, and Ruak before flowing into the international waters of the Mekong. Combined with continued agricultural runoff, the impact is especially alarming for those who rely on the Mekong for drinking water, cooking, bathing, and farming. For them, protecting the river is not just an environmental issue— it is a matter of survival.
Against this backdrop, the Mekong Youth Program has been steadily developing an approach to citizen science that reaches beyond just data collection. It connects biology, chemistry, and ecology, and positions those disciplines directly in conversation with nature. By working on the river, students are not just learning how to test water quality; they are understanding why it matters. At the heart of this approach is a substantial shift: from viewing science as an external authority to understanding it as something rooted in place and lived experience. Students are encouraged to ask difficult but essential questions: Why are we testing? What do these quantity parameters truly indicate? What processes shape the data, and who decides what gets measured?
Titled “Lab in the Field: Mekong Youth Bring Science to the River – Students Lead Water Testing in Chiang Khong,” this year’s program emphasized that science is not just about results, but about reflection. It placed tools and knowledge in the hands of young people who are living closest to the impacts of environmental change. “When students see science as something they can do, on the river, in the field, with their peers, it shifts the way they learn and live,” said Chak Kineesee, a bird researcher and longtime Mekong School volunteer. “It helps them ask better questions, recognize environmental risks, and work on solutions with their communities.”
Ultimately, the program empowers youth with skills and a growth perspective. It invites students to understand their landscape—its ecology, its changes, and their place within it. In a time of rapid environmental and societal shifts, this hands-on and reflective learning provides students a way to see themselves and reimagine their roles in shaping the future.
Film as a Lens for Environmental Learning
The filmmaking workshop brought that philosophy to life. DKU Professor Kaley Clements, Jiawen Cai (Senior Coordinator of Undergraduate Academic Activities) and a team of DKU students and alumni developed a one-day curriculum tailored to storytelling, cinematography, and editing, all grounded in the real-world context of the Mekong River.
While Chiang Khong students learned the language of film, the DKU team immersed themselves in local life. “We learned about the Mekong through the students,” shared Professor Clements, referencing the word ‘sukapawa’, a Thai-Lao term that expresses the interconnectedness of health, mind, and environment. The concept has no direct translation in English, but can loosely translate into ‘planetary health’ or ‘holistic health’.
The group worked in mixed teams to explore film as a tool for reflection. “It’s not just about getting eye-catching shots,” said Ruikang Wang, a DKU rising senior in environmental science who led the editing session. “The Chiang Khong students showed us how to edit creatively using only their phones. They reminded us that storytelling doesn’t require expensive gear. It requires connection to place and purpose.”
For Poy, a local high school student, the workshop was both inspiring and eye-opening. “I came because I wanted to learn about film,” she said. “But I also got to practice English and Chinese with the DKU team. It was fun and made me think about how we see and tell stories.”
Rethinking the Role of the Filmmaker
Participants say the workshop inspired them to critically examine their role as storytellers, especially when engaging with local communities. Films are often made about communities without truly engaging them, and without asking whether those films serve the people whose stories are being told. This workshop challenged that mindset by emphasizing that storytelling is not just about observation, it is also about building relationships, honoring lived experiences, and ensuring the work reflects shared values.
Remi Gillis, a DKU alumnus (‘22), and current educator in the US, said, “For me, the workshop was powerful because sometimes all it takes is a discussion for students to realize not only how powerful storytelling is, but that they’re already master storytellers in their daily lives. Chiangkhong students showed me that it is more than possible to get young people interested in preserving the environment.”
Her reflection highlighted how the workshop not only equipped local students with new tools but also sparked renewed purpose in those guiding the next generation. “They gave me vital tips on how to talk to my own students, who live on the Mississippi River, about how the river’s health impacts their lives and on what they can do to make positive changes,” Gillis said.
The workshop marked a milestone in the growing partnership between DKU and the Mekong School. From geology to social wellness, from ecology to oral history, the Mekong School has been providing an interdisciplinary, place-based, and project-based education that challenges conventional classroom boundaries.
The DKU team that attended says they plan to continue collaborating with Chiang Khong youth to document environmental and social change in the region using films that emerge from within the communities themselves, grounded in local voices and perspectives. In doing so, they expect this ongoing collaboration will help build a new model of learning, shaped by the belief that knowledge should be shared, co-created, and accessible across borders.
