Meet Our Students

Dill plant.

Dan’s Dill

Finding beauty in a plant that grows like a weed.

Dill grows like a weed in the garden hidden on the outskirts of Northland College’s campus. It grows like a weed because I put it there. As I settled into my first summer working in the campus gardens and living along the south shore of Lake Superior, I was comforted by the discovery of a…

Northland student Danielle Hewitt

Hewitt Finds Meaning in Remote Internship

To say Danielle Hewitt is a go-getter is an understatement. With two majors, one minor, multiple roles on campus, and most recently, an internship with the Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse, she keeps busy. Hewitt, who has hopes of owning her own counseling services one day, is taking all the steps to get where…

Northland student Andy Kasun takes a water sample.

Burke Researchers Assess 11 Inland Lakes

Penokee Lakes Project

In 2015, the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation initiated the Penokee Lakes project to provide an assessment of the quality of eleven inland lakes located in the Penokee Hills at the headwaters of the Bad River watershed. This largely undeveloped suite of lakes is located in and around a site that was proposed…

Northland College student Emma Holtan

The Chequamegon Bay Region Spoke and the IJC Listened

In September of 2019, the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation hosted a conference with the International Joint Commission (IJC). The purpose was to give local experts and the public an opportunity to share their water quality concerns for Lake Superior and the larger Great Lakes basin. The public hearing portion of the event…

Northland College student Adrian Bethel

A Winning Combination

Forestry and Baseball

Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin Year: Junior Major: Forestry Position: Pitcher, Right Field Did you come here to play baseball? I wasn’t recruited. I found out Northland had a team when I got here. I thought that was cool. Why did you come? I had family in the Drummond and Cornucopia areas so I used to come…

Northland College student Bailey Givens

Reflections of a First Year Student

Bailey Givens

Hometown: Portland, Oregon Year: Freshman Major: Sustainable Community Development Sport: Cross Country Why Northland? Because action, not just words, is what will bring us closer to a sustainable future. The Northland College community has repeatedly exhibited their commitment to the environment through innovative and alternative solutions formulated by passionate change-makers, such as the ReUse Room,…

Northland College students search for orchids as part of research project.

The Orchid Hunters

Last summer, students Adrian Bethel and recent graduate Lauren Sloyer ’19 battled mobs of mosquitoes and black flies, scouring the Apostle Islands for a rare broad-leaved twayblade orchid named Neottia convallaroidies. The western orchid is listed as threatened in Wisconsin, the eastern edge of its range, and likely extinct in Minnesota. Assistant Professor of Natural…

Northland College students Aaron and Sarah Houle stand in the Fitness Center

Houle Siblings Play Ball

Aaron and Sarah Houle of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, grew up around basketball—their dad was a coach for fifteen years—so they knew they would likely pursue basketball. They just didn’t know they would be playing at the same college. Aaron, a senior, is studying elementary education with a minor in social studies and sports management. He…

Northland College student Jimmy Moore in downtown Ashland.

Ashland Is Home

Junior Jimmy Moore on Moving North

Just west of where the Missouri meets the Mississippi lies a growing Missouri town called Wentzville, an area I should hope I know fairly well. Until August of 2019, I had lived there for all twenty years of my life. Moving to Ashland, Wisconsin was quite the transition as I adjusted to a new landscape,…

Northland College student in class

Science with Heart

Emma Holtan Attends Reciprocal Healing Confluence

Emma Holtan chose to study water science because water is life. And through that lens, she has explored all that the liberal arts has to offer. In addition to working as a researcher at the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation and taking Limnology, she is pursuing a minor in women and gender studies…