Central Lakes College Welcomes Back Students with Concert & Cookout

Central Lakes College welcomed its student body back to campus for the 2024-25 school year last week with a cookout and kids community concert.

The event was organized through the visiting poet program Verse Like Water and CLC Student Life, where musician and Minnesota native Paul Spring, who has received recognition from NPR, Rolling Stone, and more for his work, stopped by the campus to help the students settle in with some tunes.

In addition to classical guitar, lawn games, and an excuse to miss class, students also had an opportunity to learn more about Verse Like Water from director Jeffrey Johnson. And Spring, being Johnson’s old student, loves seeing poetry get more exposure.

“I’d like to see it in more everyday settings. You know, performed in a park, performed in a bar, at a fair. Like, I think just, the more it’s out there and the more opportunities and funding there is for poets to come speak and musicians to come play, the better.”

Verse Like Water will next welcome Juan Felipe Herrera – who from 2015 to 2017 was the 21st United States Poet Laureate – to CLC on Wednesday, September 18th.