(KIWA Staff Photo)
West Okoboji, Iowa (RI) — A nearly 150-acre campus centered around a laboratory on the shore of West Okoboji Lake gives students from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa hands-on, in-the-field research experience.
Lakeside Lab Executive Director Mary Skopec says there are opportunities for younger students as well, and about a quarter of the lab’s budget comes from private donations made to the Friends of Lakeside Lab organization.
She says as many as 2,500 K-12 students in northwest Iowa visit the lab each year. A summer program funded through private donations also provides scholarships for interns, covering room and board, tuition, and travel for students from as far away as Delaware.
She says the Friends of Lakeside Lab play a really instrumental role in supporting programs and needs the lab cannot meet on its own as a public institution.
Friends of Lakeside Laboratory will host their annual summer fundraiser Sunday night in the dining hall on the campus in Milford. Individual tickets are $150 each. The Lakeside Laboratory was established 117 years ago by a University of Iowa professor and was originally owned by a private company before being turned over to the state of Iowa in 1936.
