Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

MCC camp work and fun for Winsted youth



Joey Kozitza spent his summer getting paid to camp. Of
course, he did work, too.

This past summer Kozitza was hired by the Minnesota Conservation
Corps (MCC), a program patterned after the Citizen Conservation Corps of
the 1930s. It provides jobs to teenagers, ages 15-18, and hires hearing,
hard-of-hearing, and deaf teenagers.

Kozitza spent his summer traveling to state parks around
Minnesota were he and other crew members would clear trails, clear old campsites,
lay sod, build bridges, and perform other maintenance work that needed to
be done.

He was sponsored by the Private Industry Workforce Council
5, which paid him wages of $4.35 an hour. Kozitza worked 35 hours a week.

At first, Kozitza was not thrilled about going to MCC camp.

“My mom found out about it from the counselor at school.
I already had another job lined up with the city, but then that fell through,”
he said.

Kozitza filled out the application on deadline day.

Despite his early lack of enthusiasm, Kozitza is glad he
went to the camp.

“You meet cool people and the crew leaders were cool,”
he said.

For the first two weeks, Kozitza was in a residential camp
at St. Croix State Park, near Hinckley.

There, he took up residence in a cabin and meals were served
family style. Most of the other campers were from the metro area, but a
few were from small towns.

During this time, he said, the crew leaders were very strict,
letting the teenagers know early on who was in charge.

“Two kids got kicked out right away. One had brought
some marijuana and another got kicked out for smoking,” he said.

For the remaining six weeks of the program, Kozitza was
at several “spike camps,” where crews of seven would go to different
parks, work, and sleep in tents.

“We did get lucky and at a YMCA camp were in like
these little apartments that had a bathroom and electricity,” he said.

The majority of the time during spike camp, Kozitza slept
on the ground in his sleeping bag.

After so many weeks on a hard surface, Kozitza said he
had a hard time when he returned home and slept in his own bed.

“It felt like I was drowning in it, too cushy,”
he said.

While on spike, Kozitza saw a lot of deer and a few bears.
“One of the other camps had caught some trout, and after they cooked
it, they just left the skin in a bag at their campsite. They had a bear
walking around all night,” he said.

The crew leaders relaxed after the first two weeks and
were pretty laid back with Kozitza’s group while he was at spike camp. The
leaders didn’t always stick with the 10 p.m. bedtime, but everyone still
had to be up at 7 a.m.

The work, he said, wasn’t too hard.

“They’re not out to kill ya,” but there was plenty
to do. “We had to haul these big timbers and that was hard.”

Kozitza said at another job they had to pound rebar (used
when pouring concrete) into the ground. “It was funny watching some
of the girls trying (to do that.)”

On weekends, the teenagers’ time off was also busy. Each
was responsible to do his/her own laundry and there were many activities.

“You barely had time to shower and it was busy all
weekend,” he said.

Kozitza only had a few regrets about spending the summer
with MCC.

“I missed going fishing every day, and you do miss
TV and electricity,” he said.

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