Students head to the Boundary Waters

For some students, attending school in the summer can be a major bummer. For Crow River Area Learning Center students in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area class, school is seen in a whole new light.

The entire course runs from early winter 2007 to this week, when students will take the two large wooden canoes some of their classmates built during a technical education class this past winter to the Boundary Waters. The course is divided in three sections: the canoe building, physical training for the Boundary Waters, and an environmental science portion. Some students were able to participate in the entire course, while others opted to take pieces of the class.

Last week, they finished with the science part of it, spending time practicing in the canoes, identifying plant and aquatic life and getting a taste of nature. A few field trips around town at Lake Marion and down the Crow River were intended to prepare the students for what they may experience near the Canadian border. They practiced capsizing the heavy canoes in the Hutchinson High School pool and spent time weight and strength training in the weight room.

Some students were happy just to experience some local outdoors scenery. During a warm-up canoeing trip down the Crow River from Forest City to Kingston, they were able to sample what nature has to offer.

“It was amazing,” Justin Holtberg said. “We saw bald eagles — it was awesome.”

For the full story, check out the Tuesday, June 24 print edition of the Leader.

(Lesley Christianson is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader.)
christianson@hutchinsonleader.com