Each day starts with an old fashioned “rise and shine” logging call. Boys ages 7 to 17 climb out of their beds at 8 a.m. sharp. Many start their day by grabbing a towel and taking a quick dip in the lake. Flag raising is at 8:15. At 8:20, breakfast is served. After breakfast, cabins are cleaned and inspected, and by 10 a.m. a full day of activities begins, all leading to lights out at 9:30 p.m. This is a standard day at Camp Chippewa near Bemidji.
The camp is run by Mike Endres, a Maple Grove resident whose grandfather opened the boys’ camp in 1935. It’s a throwback to a different time.
“The innocence of childhood is shrinking,” Endres says. “Camp offers a way to use your imagination and play outside of the virtual and digital age. Camp is one of the last places boys and girls can go where there are no electronics.”
Boys come from all over the world to attend Camp Chippewa (Endres has had campers from as far away as China and France), spending anywhere from two to eight weeks during the summer traipsing around in the woods and learning life skills.
Karl Maher is a former Camp Chippewa camper. He started when he was 7 years old, and went every summer through age 17. Having just graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois this spring, he returned this summer for his fifth year as a counselor. He says he kept coming back as a kid not only for the fun, but for the things he learned about himself. As a counselor, he wants to give back and share his knowledge with other kids.
“It’s a sense of grit and knowing I can push myself farther than I might think,” Maher says. “It’s knowing I’m capable of a lot more than I might think physically or mentally.”
When Endres took over as the director in 2012, it brought the camp back into the Endres family. After Endres’s grandfather ran the camp, his father took over. In 1999, they established the camp as a nonprofit, and turned control over to a board of directors (which Endres’s father ran until 2001).
The camp has remained mostly unchanged over the years. Boys spend the day taking part in activities such as archery, sailing, tennis, trap shooting, and many other activities.
“The goal is to teach fundamental skills for lifelong activities and lifelong skills,” Endres says. “What we’ve done is boiled down the essence of charter to resiliency and grit. The kids build self confidence by letting them try new things and master them on their own terms.”
Endres, a lifelong educator, recently retired from Maple Grove Junior High School where he was an eighth grade science teacher. He’s shown a passion and commitment to helping kids learn throughout his life, whether it’s at Camp Chippewa or in the classroom.
His former student, Kelly Jordahl, now a senior at Concordia College, remembers how Endres made learning fun. Every class period, he would print out a science story of the day to share with the class. “Science was never my best subject,” Jordahl says. “He was so excited that he got you excited. He makes you want to do well for him and do well for yourself.”
Now that he’s retired from teaching, Endres brings the same passion he had in the classroom to Camp Chippewa. “If I can facilitate a joy of learning with a joy of growing up in the wilderness, I’ve done my job,” Endres says. “Camp prepares kids for being away and starting their own lives. It plays a huge role in development.”
