The Suomi Opisto: The very first meeting of the Synod had taken up the question of a church school, and the consistory was requested to probe the possibility further. Very soon G. F. Bergstad, who lived in Minneapolis, reported that in neighboring St. Paul there was available a suitable property, a building bordering on a park, to be had at a satisfactory price. Although the matter was investigated, no decision was reached, until a 1892 meeting in Ishpeming, Michigan, decided that the school should be located in the `Copper Island' area of Michigan, but since the personnel for such an undertaking was not on hand, that fell through in turn. Four years later, however, J. K. Nikander agreed to take charge of such a school until a suitable educator should arrive from Finland, and so the school was opened in Hancock, Michigan, with an initial enrollment of 11 students, and including 22 (15 men, 7 women) before the first semester was finished. The official name of the institution was Suomi College and Theological Seminary, and its plans included three separate levels: a college preparatory section, a junior and senior college, and a seminary, to be divided into junior and senior sections.

In curriculum matters, American precedents were followed, and the language of instruction was English. In the beginning, the eventual permanent location of the facility still remained in doubt, and although several sites in Minnesota were proposed, among others, the final decision was to make Hancock the permanent home, and it was there that the first, new permanent building of the Suomi Opisto was opened in the year 1900. The capacity of this new institution to supply sufficient clergy, however, remained limited, and in most instances even congregations which belonged to the Synod had to advertise in Finnish newspapers when there was an appointment available, and it was in this way that young, newly ordained clergymen or divinity students about to complete their studies in Finland were attracted to pastorates in Finnish-American churches.

Youth Work: When the first congregations were being founded, there was no apparent need for youth work as such : all those who came to America were young adults, and only a few had family ties of any kind. Rautanen 7 has stated that one H. Leiviskä began a youth program at the turn of the century, and at about the same time H. Sjöblom had started a group within the

7. Rautanen, V. Amerikan suomalainen kirkko, II. (Unpublished MS, Hancock, Michigan, 1950) Library of the University of Helsinki, Finland

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