Waldsee (camp) - History

History

Waldsee was the brainchild of professors Gerald Haukebo and Erhard Friedrichsmeyer at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, USA. In 1961, the first two-week session of "Camp Waldsee" was held for 72 villagers. The tuition was $75 and Erhard Friedrichsmeyer served as the dean of the program. Over the next decade, Waldsee began to grow in both the number of villagers attending as well as the number of weeks that the camp ran each summer. Waldsee's first "adventure program," Alpenland, was held at the Rising Wolf Ranch in Montana, where villagers learned German while enjoying hikes in the mountains and horseback riding.

In 1970, the high school credit program was launched, providing a four-week intensive instruction for high-school students equivalent to a full year's instruction in a traditional classroom. In 1973, Waldsee launched its first study abroad program, offering backpacking and biking trips to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

In the early 1980s, the permanent Waldsee site began to be built on Turtle River Lake, near Bemidji, Minnesota.

In 2010, Waldsee celebrated its 50th anniversary. Events in 2010 included a major "Waldseefest" on July 24, 2010 and six different alumni weekends.