Summertime!
by Kevin Schofield
Summer is a very busy time in the San Juan Islands, and Friday Harbor Labs is no exception. There is a buzz of activity around the clock. Research vessels coming and going, classes being taught, experiments being performed. People using the flume lab, and the mesocosm lab, and the 3-D printer, and the electron microscope, and the diving equipment. People chatting over lunch in the dining hall. People out on the dock in the evening, looking for telltale signs of life in the water…
That’s the sound of world-class marine biology research and education.
As the newly-appointed chair of the Friday Harbor Labs Advancement Board, I have the privilege of informing you about all the wonderful things that are happening at the Labs. I also get to tell you about ways that you can get involved; from joining us for upcoming beach walks, to opportunities to help us financially support important programs such as our Marine Life courses. The work happening at Friday Harbor Labs is vitally important to the future of our planet, and I feel enormously privileged to get to play a part in making sure the Labs are present and thriving for future generations of students and faculty.
I hope that you get an opportunity to visit the Labs this summer, hear the buzz of activity for yourself, and see the amazing things that are happening – then find the way that you can get involved (if you’re not involved already). One program I would particularly encourage you to support – as I do – is the Adopt-a-Student program, which provides critical financial support for some of the world’s best and brightest students to travel from around the world to study at the Labs. We want to continue to make it possible for the absolute best students to be here and to take advantage of everything that Friday Harbor Labs has to offer, everything that makes it one of the top-tier marine biology labs in the world. But we need your help to sustain that pipeline of students, by providing them with necessary financial aid for tuition, housing, food and travel. Every year there are truly amazing students who decline an offer to student at the Labs for the simple reason that they can’t afford it, but this is a problem that you and I can fix, and I hope you’ll join me in Adopting a Student this summer or autumn
As a closing note, I would like to personally thank our outgoing Advancement Board chair, Trish Morse, for her leadership, dedication, and unbridled enthusiasm over the past three years. Without a doubt, Trish is a hard act to follow! She has left an indelible mark on Friday Harbor Labs, and she remains an active and vital member of the FHL community.
I hope you all enjoy your summer, and I look forward to running into you at the Labs or one of our summer events.
