It’s that exciting time of the year again, campus is alive & bustling! Interns & students have arrived for Session I classes: Literature & Multi-species Kinship, Ecology, and Ecology & Systematics of Diatoms. It’s so great to see old friends & new faces around. We hope you’ll join us for some of the activities going on this summer!
Tuesday Night Lecturesat 7 PM in Mahan Hall, followed by refreshments & discussion in the library.
Wild Wednesdays at5 PM in Mahan Hall – for families & kids at heart!
The Annual Summer Fundraiser on Sunday, June 22nd at 5 PM in the Dining Hall (Tickets are $150)
More details to come! Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to this newsletter to stay up to date on volunteer opportunities, Lab activities, & more.
Lyndy Holdt
Friends of Lakeside Lab, Executive Director
TONIGHT!
Join us for a FREE community concert provided by the Wild Prairie Winds Quintet, at 7 PM in Mahan Hall.
The award-winning quintet promotes accessible chamber music through community outreach, education, imaginative programming, and creative concert settings – in an effort to be as accessible as possible to audiences.
WILD Wednesday – Fire!
Tomorrow kicks off our first Wild Wednesday of the summer! We’re starting out HOT with Fire at 5 PM in Mahan Hall! Come learn about the different ways we use fire in conservation & maybe enjoy a s’more or two…
Iowa Field Guide Project:
Writing Workshop
Led by a local field guide & writers, Amie Adams & Tara Labovich. This workshop will begin with a guided tour of the Lakeside prairie & end with an opportunity to reflect & create. Meeting in Mahan Hall at 7 PM, June 5th.
Questions? iowafieldguides@gmail.com
The Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat Returns Again!
The event will take place from September 28th to October 1st, 2025, at the historic Iowa Lakeside Laboratory on the shores of West Lake Okoboji, offering writers and songwriters a unique blend of education, creativity, and community.
With 50+ expert speakers, the retreat covers various writing disciplines, including memoir, playwriting, screenwriting, filmmaking, poetry, and publishing. Whether you’re a new writer or seasoned professional, attendees will find practical insights and tools to enhance their craft in a relaxed, outdoor setting.
Registration for the 2025 Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat is now open. Scholarships are also available to assist writers from all backgrounds.
The Ecology & Systematics of Diatoms course has concluded for the summer. A small but mighty group!
L-R, clockwise: Dr. David Burge, Instructor; Izzi Rytlewski; Micaela Kersey; Kui Hu
Eugene F. Stoermer Scholarship
Dr. Kui Hu is a postdoctoral fellow at the Science Musuem of Minnesota.
Charles W. Reimer Scholarship
Micaela Kersey is a recent graduate of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University and will be heading to Florida International University (FIU) to start her PhD in August!
John Clayton Diatom Fellowship
Traditionally, the Diatom Fellow acts as a Teaching Assistant for the course. This year’s recipient was Isabelle Rytlewski, a PhD candidate from FIU and Lakeside Alum!
Lakeside intern, Jordan Barry, is working on a project with the IA DNR about the Little Sioux River. Please contact him for more information or to tell your story!
COFFEE & GROUNDS
Join our facilities manager, Matt Fairchild, on Tuesdays at 8:30 AM at the Waitt Lab to help manage our 147 acres of land! Work hard, make friends, & learn about native ecosystems while helping to restore Lakeside to its original prairie & oak savanna landscape. No experience required!
Coffee, snacks, & conversation to take place afterwards, around 9:30-10 AM, on the Waitt Lab deck.
Questions? More information? Call Matt at 712-260-1474
CLAMP
Cooperative Lakes Area Monitoring Project
Summer is almost here and CLAMP will be starting to sample in June!
Since 1999 this citizen science program has relied on the help of volunteers like YOU to collect samples for testing at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory’s water quality lab. This information is used to monitor the health of all the different lakes in the area & to inform decision makers like those at the Department of Natural Resources.
Boat not needed to join!
Contact megan-vigdal@uiowa.edu or ashley-scheve@uiowa.edu for more information!
Looking for a fun way to spend time in nature? Try our Treasure Hike! For all ages. Follow the map around campus to put the pieces together! Maps are available beginning Memorial Day weekend and can be found by the map in the parking lot, or in Waitt Lab.
Iowa Lakeside Laboratory is located on the homelands of several Indigenous nations including the Báxoǰe (Iowa), Umoⁿhoⁿ (Omaha), Póⁿka (Ponca), Dakota/Lakota/Nakoda, and Sahnish/Nuxbaaga/Nuweta (Three Affiliated Tribes) and acknowledges the sovereignty and traditional territories of these people, the treaties that were used to remove them, and the histories of dispossession.
Mitakuye Oyasin – We are all related.
How did you like this email?
Friends of Lakeside Lab | 1838 Hwy 86 | Milford, IA 51351 US
