Thistledew Corrrectional Camp

 

Thistledew Correctional Facility sits on Thistledew Lake, south of Hwy 1 in northern Itasca County between Togo & Effie, northwest of Side Lake. If you don't know where that is, you are forgiven. It's remote Northern Minnesota.  I did some time there in 1973 ...

 as a student teacher. 

In 1973 I was attending the University of Minnesota, Morris to pick up the education credits I needed to obtain a Minnesota teacher’s certificate. The final step was student teaching. Because we had returned to Minnesota from Germany (where I had been teaching! a topic for another day) I started mid-school year at Morris and I needed to do student teaching in the summer to be licensed for a full-time fall position. The education department at Morris got creative on my behalf, finding options during the summer break. The assignment was split into 2 segments. 

The first was a teaching a summer school class in astronomy in Willmar, MN, an hour commute from home. I could identify a few constellations and I knew the 8 planets - Pluto had not yet been demoted - but I had never had a class in astronomy. But the few students who were taking this class were very motivated and we sort of learned about the universe together, including a few late night fumbling with a telescope in the school parking lot. It was actually great fun.

The second was a stint at Thistledew Correctional Camp in the far north woods of Minnesota.

The Thistledew facility opened in 1955 as a camp to teach troubled youth practical skills to help them lead productive lives. The Thistledew Camp program could serve up to 50 youth and required each student to participate in the 3-week Wilderness Program designed for small groups of no more than 10 male students per group. Programming included education, critical thinking skills development, chemical dependency programming, rigorous physical exercise, restorative justice work crews, and firewood preparation and bundling for state parks. 

There were two student teachers, myself and and Bad, Bad Wendell Brown as the kids tagged him. I covered Math & Science. Wendell covered English & Social Studies. Wendell was retired military, older and less overwhelmed. The full-time staff took care of the chemical dependency counseling, physical fitness program, wilderness experiences and of course the supervision/care and feeding of the "residents".  These were male offenders, ages 13-17 who had been convicted of non-violent crimes or drug offenses. Most of the young residents placed in Thistledew were court ordered, probation officer and/or social worker recommended. They had been chosen for the Thistledew "challenge program" with the potential to earn early supervised release upon successful program completion. 

This, to put it mildly, was an unconventional student teaching assignment. It was a radical departure from my experience in Hamburg at Charlotte-Paulsen Gymnasium (a topic for another day). The teaching consisted mainly of individual or small group tutoring since these kids were at widely varied grade levels in their math skills. Essentially the old fashioned one-room schoolhouse. The students were highly unmotivated, their interests largely focused on impressing their peers and finding their slot in the camp pecking order. Proficiency in math (or any other academics) was a deterrent to group status. So sneaking out a window when the teacher was occupied with another student and then strutting through the door shortly thereafter was a common attention grabber. And the plenty of bored looks. Most would have preferred chopping wood I am sure. I rarely felt any success. This dearth of love for learning nearly drove me to abandon the teaching idea. (Aside - I believe prospective teachers should be put in a classroom early in their academic program). The experience did open my eyes. It was easy to feel empathy for these kids and the path that brought them to this place. At the camp, every story seemed sad and/or tragic. 

Teaching was not the whole of the Thistledew experience. Camp life included organized physical activity and physical labor with work assignments chopping wood  (e.g. "chop a rick" was punishment for rule violations) kitchen duties, camp cleanup, etc. The third piece, and more memorable, was participating in and assisting in the supervision of the outdoor adventure component. 

The wilderness/adventure component was much anticipated and intended not just to be fun but to build character and self esteem. Part of the reason for the camp location, near the Minnesota BWCA, was for the plethora of outdoor experiences that could be offered up: canoe trips, hiking, camping, fishing, cross-country skiing and rappelling expeditions. These adventures were entirely new experiences for most and generally went pretty smoothly, with kids on good behavior under the threat of being sent back to camp. But of course, there's always somebody. On an overnight canoe and camping trip one young man managed to get access to a gas can, soaked his sleeping bag, managing to get high on the fumes. I believe he was exported back from whence he came the next day. 

A highlight event was a rappelling trip to Lake Superior. This was not dropping off a "high cliff" like Palisade Head, but a smaller cliff perhaps 50' high. The staff were very experienced with the “on belay” activity and provided excellent how-to instructions. “Just lean back, bounce against the cliff and don’t let go of the rope.” Even the student teachers had a crack on. My only worry was potentially embarrassing myself. It wasn’t The Eiger Sanction, but a quite satisfying trip over the edge. Needless to say, the boys were eager to take a turn, some overly eager. Two, apparently, felt the edge of a cliff was an appropriate place for a fight over who was next in line. Happily, no one died. But some anger management conversations soon followed.

Sadly, Thistledew closed in 2020, a victim to MN Dept of Correction budget cuts and Covid.  Tis a pity, as this outward bound style correction and education was innovative and I believe life changing for at least some of these kids. We student teachers’ contribution-not so much.

That fall, I started as a Math teacher in Hastings (a story for another time), hired in part, I believe, on the unwarranted assumption that teaching juvenile delinquents had prepared me to manage a classroom.

 

1955 Opening

Dorm

High ropes course

Winter skiing & camping

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