Bob Collins
Occasionally the morning pile of press releases reveals an interesting story.
Here’s one you’ll probably hear about or read tomorrow. Ten kids are going to paddle down the Mississippi from North Minneapolis to Lake City over four days this week.
Adventure – Challenge – Curiosity. These are some of the same motivations that led these urban teens to become apprentices at Urban Boatbuilders. They each committed themselves to Urban Boatbuilders’ after-school job training program. There they developed skills with hand-tools, learned about job responsibility, and expanded their sense of craftsmanship, teamwork, and capability while building wooden boats – building their lives one boat at a time.
Now, they’re ready to put these boats, and themselves, to the test. For four days, they will join volunteers and staff of Urban Boatbuilders to cover 80 miles on the largest river in North America. Their voyage will end at Hok-Si-La campground on Lake Pepin on Saturday evening, the 26th, outside of Lake City. Along the way they will conduct water quality tests as part of an environmental initiative.
