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By Sonjie Johnson and Jeanne Steele
It was mid-February, a bright, mild day when Sonjie Johnson, an inveterate lake walker
and observer, spotted the mini-tent city that had sprung up on Como Lake, on the
northeast side not too far from the pavilion. The tents she saw were black; other days
she also had seen red ones on the lake. Some days, both.
Curious about the story behind the tents, she caught up with Karl Erickson of Elpis
Enterprises, who was working that day with Sgt. Amy Rahlf, of the St. Paul Police Dept.
Their mission: To introduce students from Sejong Academy. a Korean immersion
school, to ice-fishing.* (Due to competing responsibilities, Johnson enlisted Steele’s
help to report the rest of this story.)
Both Erickson and Rahlf see nature as a ready-made gateway for teaching kids from
diverse backgrounds lessons they may not learn in the classroom. That belief brought
them together a year ago when Erickson partnered with Rahlf, who manages the St.
Paul Police Activities League (PAL), to take students from Higher Ground Academy out
on the ice for some ice fishing.
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