FY24 Annual Report

Building a brighter future requires a sound plan and a solid foundation. I am pleased to report that Lake Superior College is blessed with both. Our 2020-2030 Strategic Plan holds five strategic directions that guide our work each year: 1. Create and live a culture of equity and inclusion, 2. Implement responsive strategies to facilitate student success, 3. Foster and encourage continuous innovation, 4. Provide robust regional workforce support, and 5. Enhance and celebrate an enthusiastic campus climate.

In 2024, we completed a series of much needed improvements to our campus that touched on all five of our strategic directions. To better serve students and ensure their success, we moved our TRIO and Tutoring and Learning Center into the newly remodeled Erickson Library. This two-million-dollar project upgraded our library with natural lighting, new furniture and carpeting, elegant study spaces, enhanced technology, and a refreshed collection. Both TRIO and the Tutoring Center gained windowed offices, new furniture, and a wonderful location right inside the library with access to technology help. Being close to the Icehawk Café is also a great benefit for students and staff.

Another large project that began in June of 2024 was moving our integrated manufacturing programs out of the downtown building. The logistics of moving heavy equipment, juggling academic programming, and coordinating temporary storage was a major effort in teamwork and creativity. Work also began on the remodeling and new addition to the T-building to house the welding, machine tool, and computer-aided design programs in state-of-the-art space. We welcome these programs back to the main campus in 2025.

President Patrica Rogers

For decades, the Lake Superior College Foundation has served as a trusted steward for individuals, community groups, and businesses committed to supporting student success through scholarships and more. Led by a volunteer board and dozens of volunteers, the LSC Foundation strives to lighten financial burdens of students pursuing a certificate, diploma or associate degree.

With the help of scholarship-reviewer volunteers over $510,000 worth of scholarships were awarded in the year. This helped release a log jam of Workforce Development scholarship funds from the state of Minnesota and other private scholarships. We also began two new memorial scholarships: The Mimi Robertson Nursing Scholarship and the Jack Moon Scholarship at LSC.

Support for the LSC Food Pantry also grew, with generous contributions from both individuals and organizations. This essential resource helps students who are working hard to stretch limited incomes to feed themselves and their families. Additionally, our summer camps, which introduce middle and high school students to new subjects and career pathways at LSC continued to thrive, thanks to grants and donations made through the Foundation.

In-kind donations of equipment and supplies remained strong, especially in our trades and healthcare programs. To better support these contributions, the Foundation implemented a new process to streamline and manage in-kind gifts more efficiently.

David Kline

Executive Committee

• Mike Watters, Chair
• LeAnn Littlewolf, Vice Chair
• Jon Birkeland
• Carl Crawford, Past Chair
• Brian Forcier, Treasurer
• Rick Flaherty
• Autumn Johnson, Secretary
• David Kline, Executive Director
• Theresa Hannu
• Vance Okstad
• Travis Johnson

Board Members

• Katherine Gerzina
• Vinod Gupta
• Theresa Hannu
• Travis Johnson
• Todd Mell
• Vance Okstad
• Dr. Linda Kingston
• David Kline, Executive Director