The research team just spent an exhilarating and strenuous two days with the The Op-Ed project. The Op-Ed project teaches women and underrepresented minorities how to get their voices into the mix of public comment by teaching us how to write op-eds. It’s not the writing that’s hard — it’s the strength to do it! We learned to think of ourselves as experts. We are the experts on parks along the Ohio River because, over the past two years, we have visited and analyzed more than one hundred of those parks, and because we have been invited to be on the Steering Committee of ORBA, the Ohio River Basin Association. We learned to generate op-ed pieces based on upcoming events, not just to respond to events that already have happened. And we learned that we have a national voice, not just a local one. We learned a lot, and you should expect to see Op-Eds about the Ohio River Parks Project in local newspapers in the coming year. If you are interested in making your voice resound more broadly, check out the Op-Ed Project’s public seminars — or organize one for your own group.