Indiana college rededicates lake after restoration

ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. (AP) - A college in western Indiana has rededicated and blessed a lake on campus following years of restoration work.

St. Mary-of-the-Woods College held the event Thursday for Le Fer Lake, the Tribune-Star reported .

The lake was in disrepair when work began, said college President Dottie King.

"Every problem with the lake I think we could encounter, we encountered," King said. "The lesson in that is if something is worth doing, you don't let a few bumps in the road stop you."

Lake restoration included repairing a dam, creating a walking trail, demolishing a concrete bridge and removing invasive plant species. The Terre Haute Regional Airport assisted the college with the bridge demolition and lake dredging.

The lake is an important teaching tool, said Janet Clark, the college's vice president of student and academic affairs.

"We are really blessed to have this natural habitat in our front yard," she said. "Students have been studying environmental science and biology in our campus programming for quite a bit, but now we are going to be intentional and much more involved in the use of the lake. We can now come out of the laboratory to do a variety of things."

The college's students have logged data about plants around the lake and water quality, Clark said. The Oakley Innovation Academy for middle school girls also studies the lake during the summer.

College officials plan to construct an outdoor classroom near the lake.

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This story has been corrected to show King is president of the college, not the restoration project.

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Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com