Personal Narrative: Youth Conservation Corp.

Story Karen was very scared and nervous when she went to YCC, the Youth Conservation Corp. It was an 8 week long paid youth work program during the summer in Isabella, MN in the boundary waters. She was really scared about the ordeal, but wanted to make some money. Some of Karen’s sisters went, so her parents thought she should go, too. Because Karen’s parents thought it was too much time and money to drive her, she had to get a ride with a complete stranger who was also going. Karen’s parents dropped her off a liquor store parking lot in Waverly, MN. Karen was scared and anxious waiting all alone next to Highway 12. She waited there for about half an hour with her her big backpack, as well as multiple changes of clothes including hot weather clothes, sleeping clothes, swimming clothes and
She missed her family and her dog, Fritz, but she really missed her kitties, Fluffy Igor, Leo, and Tabby, as well as multiple other farm cats. At the environmental learning center, the students did lots of work, but also some fun activities. Some of the fun activities were going on field trips. On one of the field trips they went to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and spent the day at Fort William, an old fur trading post. Back then, you didn’t even need a passport to cross into Canada. Karen also remembers going to Ely and Two Harbors, but she does not remember what they did there. For the work, the class often built small dams in streams out of rocks, made fire clearings in the tall grass to prevent forest fires, made trails through the forest, and went on five to ten day “spikes”, where you lived in the woods in groups of six, five students and one group leader. You would have to take everything you would need, including food, in your backpack. It was all very hard work. When they went on the spikes, they had a small variation in food to eat, and what they mostly had for breakfast was bulgar wheat cereal, a very bland cereal made from various wheat seeds. The dish was