Future teacher Works at Camp with Troubled Youngsters

Luke Karner's secondary education and social sciences majors were put to the test while spending the summer volunteering at a New Hampshire summer camp. While tolerating uproars in the dining halls, umpiring the swimming, fishing, canoeing expeditions or other fun activities at camp, some kids tackle their autism, schizophrenia or tantrums when frustrated.

Here is where Karner spent eight weeks working an average of 16 hours a day, but says, "you come out with a pretty hefty amount of experience." He earned 750 hours of clinical work.

By all appearances, Wediko, a 480-acre retreat in New Hampshire, is like any other summer camp. Only this camp has an extensive staff of social workers, psychiatrists and other professionals with expertise in behavior disorders.

"A lot of the kids are emotionally and socially disturbed," Karner says. “They have been abused and are in foster care and group homes."

Karner explains that the idea behind the Wediko program is to provide normal daily activity with regimented daily schedules which include group therapies. "This way the kids know what is coming and what is expected of them, so they can start to work on their problems."

Founded in 1934, Wediko is the nation’s oldest therapeutic camp for disturbed children. Ages range from six to 18 and youngsters are grouped by development and academic ability, allowing Karner to teach a wide range of ages.

Nothing that Wediko does is without purpose. Kids learn reciprocity, patience, negotiation and compromise, and they get peer support. "No activity is done without an underlying reason. In a relatively short time, the kids begin to understand their behavior and begin to take responsibility for it."

Karner says the list of lessons learned is pretty long. "I think patience is one thing, but being persistant with your patience is something that is the test. You start to learn that people's actions and how people react and what they say and do is the product of their environment. Some of these kids were extremely verbally aggressive, some physically aggressive. They are used to people giving up on them."

For Karner, the experience was eye opening. "The classes were the most difficult and most challenging that I have had to work with, but at the same time, by far the most rewarding and more enjoyable, and I plan on doing it again next year."

A self-proclaimed education major from an early age, Karner says he feels "the classroom is a powerful place when you do things right."

"Pursuing education at Knox was by far the best choice I ever made. And this summer program is a testament to that, because I would have never heard of this place. My advisor, Stephen Schroth, actually encouraged me to give it a shot, because I think he knew me pretty well and felt like this is something that would interest me.

"Knox was just a good fit for me. When you come here, you start to see people and appreciate their differences. You start to see that the idea of being different or diverse is a positive thing .. . a productive thing. I’ve never been so stretched, tested and pushed. I think you find out about yourself and learn a lot more, and I think I will be in debt to a lot of faculty for what they have done for me."

Before this summer, Karner says he was not sure how he would fare with inner city school behaviors. "Now, I am now looking at Chicago, Boston, and major cities. Hopefully, I can make some difference and make some positive change for people who don’t get that opportunity."

The majority of what Karner does now revolves around his class observations and student teaching. "There are some after school programs that I am involved in, and of course wrestling. That consumes a lot of my time."

In addition to Prairie Fire wrestling, Karner is a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and Habitat for Humanity.