Life of Lake Superior Youth Program

A glass bottomed boat offered a new perspective on Lake Superior for participants in the 2005 Life of Lake Superior Youth Program. The unique vessel, typically used for shipwreck tours, was just one aspect of the award-winning outdoor education program for young people, ages 9-14, and their parents.

Following a “workshop-on-the-move” framework, the four-day program features sessions taught by a variety of working professionals about how Lake Superior influences the natural sciences, recreation, tourism, business, culture, heritage and careers in the region.

“The camp experiences really help kids understand their connection to Lake Superior in a new way,” says Sea Grant Extension Educator Ron Kinnunen, one of a team of volunteers who coordinates the annual program.

Some of the speakers in 2005 included Dave Guenther of the National Weather Service, who showed satellite imagery of weather conditions leading up to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists from the Sea Lamprey Control Unit who conducted an invasive species program at Furnace Creek, and an environmental scientist from the Neenah Paper Mill who explained the inner workings of this large waterfront industry.

This year’s program is set for June 20 and 27 and July 11 and 18, 2006. The first day is scheduled to feature field trips to a fish hatchery, fisheries lab, research vessel, Coast Guard station, and maritime museum.