News

The northern lights over a frozen Chequamegon Bay

Northland College to Help Finlandia University Students Continue Their Education with the Sisu Promise

The Sisu Promise creates a seamless transfer pathway to Northland College for Finlandia University students following FinnU’s closure at the end of the 2022–23 academic year.

Northland College is launching the Sisu Promise to support Finlandia University students in response to the closure of Finlandia University at the end of the spring 2023 semester. The Sisu Promise offers automatic admissions, low tuition, and generous credit transfer for qualifying Finlandia students. All Finlandia University students are guaranteed automatic admission with a cumulative…

A Quetico Provincial Park guide license for Sigurd Olson

From the Archives: A Guide and Outfitter for the Northwoods

In the entryway to the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute building on the Northland College campus, a display cabinet houses memorabilia from Sigurd Olson’s life. Nestled among these objects, next to a Finnish Puukko knife and under a Case penknife, is a worn and creased piece of paper with printed text that reads: “The Quetico Provincial…

Alaina Lenz

The Text Effect

If you had asked me at any point before my senior year of high school where I hoped to go to college, I never would have seen myself at a place like Northland. For as long as I can remember, it was my desire to follow in my parents’ footsteps and attend the University of…

Intangible Fall 2020 Issue

From the Archives: Giving a Voice to Intangibles

The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute archives include a small, saddle-stitched pamphlet titled Two Essays by Sigurd F. Olson. The pamphlet was produced by the Institute and, though undated, was likely published shortly after Olson’s death in 1982. The first essay in the pamphlet is titled “Those Intangible Things,” and a note explains that the essay…

From the Archives: Forest Lodge on Lake Namekagon

In the summer of 1994, a number of individuals with homes or summer cabins near Cable, Wisconsin, received a card in the mail. A small piece of gray paper with four pine trees etched in green was glued to front of the cream-colored card, and inside crisp, green text invited recipients of the card to…

The Bad River makes one last turn through the Kakagon-Bad River Sloughs on its way to Lake Superior

From the Archives: The Chequamegon Bay Area Partnership

Chequamegon Bay and the wetlands and waterways associated with it are one of the most ecologically significant areas in the Lake Superior Basin. The Bay and its surrounding watersheds contain approximately one quarter of the coastal wetlands and one fifth of the nearshore waters associated with the United States’ Lake Superior coast, and many of…

Alum Bob Schopp ’69 stands on the field at Ponzio Stadium

For the Love of Learning

In the spring of 1965, I graduated from high school and looked forward to the end of my formal education. After four years of being force-fed information for seemingly no purpose other than regurgitation for exams, additional schooling was on the bottom of my list and the last thing I wanted for the next four…

From the Archives: The Sigurd Olson Legacy Project

In the fall of 1937, Sigurd Olson converted a one-car garage located in front of his Ely, Minnesota, home into a simple writing studio that he called “the shack.” Olson spent many hours writing in the shack, and over the years it accumulated a rich assortment of items significant to Olson—old fishing hats, pipes, photos,…

From the Archives: Promoting Nature-focused Literature for Children

In a 2003 press release, the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute announced that it was expanding its nature writing award to include a category focused specifically on children’s literature. As noted in the From the Archives installment from October 23, 2022, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award was created in 1991 to support and encourage…

Apostle Islands

From the Archives: Lake Superior Programs at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute

It’s just a short walk from the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute through the streets of Ashland, Wisconsin, to the shoreline of Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay. Since its founding, the Institute has recognized the unique value and wonder of Lake Superior, and the fall 2002 issue of the Institute’s Horizons newsletter featured a number of its…