CINCINNATI — Some Ohio college students are getting together to help end the global water crisis by building water wells in Africa.

The idea came from Walsh University business student Joe Knopp. He spent a lot of time coming up with business plans but ultimately decided his business needed to center on making a difference in the world.

“My mom always told me eat to your green beans and drink your water before getting up from the dinner table because there are kids in Africa that don’t have that luxury,” Knopp said.

His mother was right. Knopp learned many children in Uganda had to walk miles just to find water that was not even sanitary. Knopp knew it was time to act, so he teamed up with his roommate Chip and Xavier University student Zachary Kane to find a solution.

“I ended up messaging him on LinkedIn,” Kane said. “Six months later, we’ve dug six wells, supported building a school and three other schools, an orphanage and a hospital.”

The guys created a company and a nonprofit called Ripple, where they sell metal water bottles and split the proceeds to build modern wells in Africa.

“From March until October, we sold bottles,” said Knopp. “Every thousand bottles builds a well and we built the first-ever modern solar-powered well for a remote village in Uganda.”

Since Knopp returned from Africa, he said support for the bottles and the mission have skyrocketed. Right now, five more wells are in the construction process. The team is heading back to build four more in April.

“Just to live where we do, to have the access to water and education that we do, the safety and security of living here. We are very blessed,” Kane said.

Despite the progress, the road hasn’t been easy. The COVID-19 pandemic has produced its share of setbacks, like shipping delays. Regardless, Knopp said, he believes his team — with the help of the public — can make a big difference.

“We’re all a bunch of 20-somethings,” Knopp said. “So if we live to 80, we’ve got another 60 years of giving people clean water. In just nine months, we’ve already given over 20,000 people clean water."

You can make a contribution to Ripple by purchasing a water bottle online.

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Xavier University’s new president is bringing two firsts to the 190-year-old school.

Colleen Hanycz, whose selection was announced Monday morning, will be the first woman and the first layperson — someone who is not a member of the clergy — to assume the school’s highest-ranking position.

Her predecessor, the Rev. Michael Graham, was a priest who held the job for 20 years before announcing his retirement in early 2020.

“After a comprehensive search including a deep, talented and diverse pool of candidates, Dr. Hanycz’s leadership, academic credentials, character and commitment to Catholic higher education highlight her ability to serve as our next president and lead Xavier into the future,” wrote Vince Caponi, chairman of Xavier’s board of trustees, in a statement.

Hanycz is a former law professor who also served as president of Philadelphia’s La Salle University and principal of Brescia University College in London, Ontario — both of which are Catholic universities like Xavier. She was La Salle’s first female president, too.

She’ll take the reins July 1.

"I am so honored to have been chosen as Xavier’s first lay president, and will anchor my leadership in a deep commitment to the Jesuit mission of forming men and women for and with others,” Hanycz wrote in a get-to-know-me questionnaire on Xavier’s website.

Hanycz grew up in Toronto, according to the questionnaire, and holds a PhD in law from the city’s Osgoode Hall Law School. She wrote she was excited to “participate in forming the next generation of ethical, engaged, curious, unconventional and enlightened citizens” with her new job in Cincinnati — but also, when it’s safe to gather, to see if the Queen City’s Oktoberfest lives up to Ontario’s.

Founded in 1831, Xavier University did not admit women pupils as full-time students until 1969.