Welcome back, Potter

Potter Lake, a firefighting resource built in 1911 that quickly morphed into a popular swimming hole in its early days, on Sept. 26 officially began its next chapter with a renewal celebration that capped extensive 2024 revitalization work. The festive event also christened a LaunchKU fundraising campaign—jump-started with a gift from Bill, e’72, and Marlene VanGundy Penny, c’71 (bottom right, with Chancellor Doug Girod)—to support ongoing lake beautification efforts.

“This was literally our kids’ playground for the first 10 years of their early lives,” Marlene says. “You can’t mention Potter Lake to anyone who has ever been on the campus without them saying, ‘Oh, yeah, we had our family pictures taken there,’ or, ‘My sister’s husband proposed to her there.’”