After learning that a child dies every 15 seconds due to lack of clean water, Sheri Nelson decided to do something about it.

“People are good at heart, and when they hear a statistic like that they don’t like it. But they don’t know what they can do to help,” says Nelson, who graduated in December with a degree in life sciences communication. “So I decided to put something in place—a tangible thing—that would allow people to help with the water crisis.”

Last April, Nelson began selling reusable aluminum water bottles to raise awareness and money for the water crisis. She founded a nonprofit, WaterDrops of Hope, which uses proceeds from bottle sales to fund well-building projects in rural Africa. Just before graduation, she wrote its first check, which will construct a new well in Kenya.

“I can’t wait to go out and see one of these wells being built,” says Nelson, who grew up on a hog-and-crop farm in East Troy, Wisconsin. “That’s another one of my goals.”

This article was posted in Class Act, On Henry Mall, Spring 2010.