How I spent my summer vacation: A look at what some east metro kids did this summer

Nina Thompson, Frederick Melo, Soraya Keiser, Claire Nelson, Isabel Saavedra-Weis, Andy Greder, Pioneer Press
·9 min read

How did east metro kids spend their summer vacation, and more importantly, what did they learn?

We asked that question to a group of them, ages 6 to 17.

Their responses ranged from gaining insight into how to lead an all-girl Boy Scouts troop to overcoming a fear of heights by soaring 22 feet off the ground on a flying trapeze, hiking in northern Norway and carting produce around a farm share warehouse.

HIKING IN THE LAND OF THE VIKINGS

After completing an immersive course in Norwegian through Minneapolis-based Concordia Language Villages, elementary school students Asa and Cora Korsberg of St Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood spent the summer exploring Tromsø, a city in northern Norway.

The siblings have been to visit their grandparents in Norway before, but this is the first time the kids have been old enough to participate in breathtaking mountainside hikes, long sojourns to waterfalls and visits to the Korsberg family farm, said their father, Andrew Korsberg, who works for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

“The summers are way colder here, and they don’t really have thunderstorms like St. Paul does,” said Asa, 10, in a recent online interview from far across the Atlantic. “And it’s light outside at night in the summers here.”

Asa attended a Norwegian summer camp where he learned to fish for wild cod and made local friends. He began picking up the language, however slowly, but without too much trouble. But most people in Norway speak English anyway, he said.

Cora, 7, said her favorite adventure was a spontaneous visit to a dogsledding center. There was no snow for a dogsled ride, but she got to “snuggle husky puppies,” she said.

The kids have dual citizenship, but in order to keep it into adulthood, they have to spend a cumulative six months in Norway. “So this summer is helping them build towards that, too,” Andrew said.

— Isabel Saavedra-Weiss

THE SUMMER OF FLYING TRAPEZE

Ainsley Collins, 11, of West St. Paul spent the first half of August learning to maneuver nearly two-dozen feet off the ground, and making friends along the way.

Located in St. Paul, near Payne Boulevard off East Minnehaha Avenue, the Twin Cities Trapeze Center aims to make the art of flying trapeze and other circus skills safe and accessible for kids and adults alike, regardless of experience level. This summer’s day camps for youths ages 8 to 17 enrolled dozens of students, with the goal of teaching trapeze, stilts, silk stunts and more.

Ainsley said she overcame her fear of heights through the camp, after she was panicked on the first day to get up on the platform that sits 22½ feet above the ground. Now, after embracing the thrill of swinging through the air and her fears conquered, “it feels like you’re flying … it’s amazing,” she said.

Ainsley learned that gaining the skills of a circus performer doesn’t require fancy costumes or peak flexibility.

“It’s just a really safe community, and I enjoy making friends with the people here,” she said. “They’re all very supportive.”

— Nina Thompson

SHE’S A TOP-SEED BOY SCOUT

Twyla Paska, 16, has gone where no St. Paul girl has ever gone before: to the top tier of the Boy Scouts.

Paska, who will be a junior at Central High School this fall, is a founding member of Troop 7091, the all-girls Boy Scouts troop based out of St. Paul’s Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. She became the city’s first female Eagle Scout this summer after completing a final project that involved building climbing trees for cats.

Girls have been invited to join the Boy Scouts of America since February 2019, and Paska has served with zeal.

Starting at the age of 13, she made her way up through seven ranks to reach the Boy Scouts of America’s highest. A scout must earn 21 merit badges to be named an Eagle Scout; Paska earned 36.

Paska’s Eagle project was to build five cat trees and one prototype for the Lakeville-based nonprofit Kitty Revolution, a volunteer-based, no-kill cat shelter. She is currently planning her Eagle Court of Honor ceremony, which will be held in September.

“I always kind of like doing things that people don’t expect you to do,” said Paska, whose other passions have included taekwondo and robotics.

There are currently 14 scouts in Troop 7091, and two others are soon expected to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

— Soraya Keiser

DREAM SUMMER PLAYING SOCCER

Carlos Leatherman didn’t have a pinch-me moment this summer. It was more of a playful punch.

The 17-year-old joined Minnesota United’s youth soccer academy in 2017 and has blossomed this summer, playing on the Loons’ developmental team in the MLS NEXT Pro league. In July, the team announced that Leatherman had been picked for the league’s All-Star Game in Blaine.

“It was a bit unusual. I checked my phone and a notification had popped up,” Leatherman said. “It was a bit anti-climatic, but cool to get.” He immediately told his father, Gary, and received an excited jab over the big news.

In the showcase game, the outside defender from St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood had a slick dribble past a defender, and a highlight clip of the play went viral on social media, with nearly 500,000 likes on Instagram.

With soccer being a full-time commitment, Leatherman hasn’t had much of a summer vacation before he begins his senior year at Central High School.

“That is what I’ve asked for and there isn’t a better way to spend my summer than with a great group of guys and a great coaching staff,” he said.

Leatherman has committed to play collegiate soccer at St. Louis University in fall 2023, but maintains his dream of one day playing for the Loons in Major League Soccer.

— Andy Greder

THE BOOKSTORE, A WELCOMING PLACE TO PRAY

Deego Nur, 15, of St. Paul spent the summer connecting with her faith in ways she never has before. As a Somali Muslim born in the United States, religion is an important part of Nur’s daily life, but at the Rabata Cultural Center, it was all-encompassing.

Located in an unassuming Arden Hills outlet mall, the cultural center is a bookstore and event space focused on Muslim culture and community. It’s also the headquarters of the Ribaat Academic Institute, which offers online learning to adult Muslim women around the world.

Nur — a rising sophomore at Higher Ground Academy in St. Paul — landed at Rabata through the city of St. Paul’s summer Right Track youth internship program.

From 12 to 5 p.m. three or four days a week, Nur and the other interns set up for events, worked the register and packaged books for delivery in the back, all while being in a faith-centered environment. The institute’s many far-flung students would sometimes swing by to see the headquarters in person. She met visitors from Bosnia, Norway, Singapore and elsewhere.

But even when there was a lot of work to be done, prayer still took priority.

Muslims pray five times a day, and typically two or three of those times occur while Rabata is open. When it’s time to pray, employees and interns do not need to clock out. They are able to step back from and later resume their work seamlessly.

“This is a place that prioritizes that,” Nur said. “In some places, you wouldn’t see a lot of people prioritize your prayer. That kind of built my confidence.”

Nur hopes that she can carry that confidence with her as she leaves Rabata and continues with school and her everyday life.

— Soraya Keiser

PENNING ‘THE PIPER’S MOUNTAIN’

Imagine the survivor’s guilt of the crippled boy who was left behind when the Pied Piper lured away the unsuspecting children of Hamelin. Now add music, a heroic journey to find and free his peers and more than a pinch of faith.

Evangelyn Hill spent more than a year and a half scripting her all-youth musical, “The Piper’s Mountain,” but it took months to dawn on the Lake Elmo teen that songwriting wasn’t her forte.

For help, Hill, 17, turned to the Young Writer’s Workshop, an online writing forum for Christian teens and twentysomethings, where she befriended Debbie Coll, a college student and composer from Melbourne, Australia.

On Aug. 19 through Aug. 21, following nearly three months of rehearsals, the Stillwater Evangelical Free Church debuted their dramatic musical, which featured some 17 young people ages 5 to 15 and ran 2½ hours with intermission. Hill wrote, produced and directed, and cast her younger brother and sister in lead roles.

— Frederick Melo

WORKING THE GOOD ACRE

Courtney Smith, 17, a rising senior at Champlin Park High School, sought out a job through the city’s Right Track youth internship program. Smith indicated she’d like to do something outdoorsy and hands-on, so the city matched her with the Good Acre, a nonprofit that supports local farmers through programs like farm shares while improving community-wide access to locally grown produce.

Smith spent most of the summer working directly with fresh produce — weighing, packaging and carting veggies around the Good Acre warehouse on Larpenteur Avenue in Falcon Heights. Her favorite part of the job was making it easier for people to pick up healthy food.

“I think it’s really important to know where your food comes from,” she said. “A lot of store-bought food is processed. Are they spraying stuff on it to make it last longer?”

Her family instilled in her the value of healthy eating, and she said she can see herself continuing to work in farming and food systems later in life.

— Claire Nelson

MY MOM, THE LIBRARY WORKER

Clay sculpting and virtual reality in the “FunLab” on Mondays. Ukulele lessons on Wednesdays. Book clubs. Story hours. And a whole lot of time with mom.

For 9-year-old Imran Moran, being the son of the youth programming specialist at St. Paul’s Rondo Library comes with benefits. Imran, of St. Paul, shadowed his mother, Faisa Aden, at work up to three times per week this summer, visiting the Dale Street library whenever a compelling activity popped up, which was often.

“It’s the funnest library that I’ve ever been to,” said Imran, ticking off the names of other St. Paul libraries he’s visited, none of which holds a candle in his eyes. “There’s more stuff to do here. There’s toys to play with, and computers, and the different varieties of books.”

The FunLab, a STEAM drop-in program that meets for an hour Monday afternoons in a library activity room, introduced Imran to everything from virtual-reality gaming through a VR headset to traditional arts and crafts. His colorful beaded tchotchke creation now helps his mom spot her key ring from afar.

“If there’s programs like ukulele camp happening, I ask him if he’s interested,” said Aden, who frequently staffs the Rondo Library’s front desk. “And he’s usually interested.”

— Frederick Melo

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