“PHOTOS: Camp puts kids in fire, police roles - Marconews.com” plus 1 more

PHOTOS: Camp puts kids in fire, police roles - Marconews.com

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 08:11 AM PDT

On the week of June 14, members of the Marco Island police and fire departments stepped into new roles as teachers, leading the first Police/Fire Youth Academy for City Parks and Recreation's new summer camp program.

The camp's activities were designed to put the participants quite literally into the officers and firemens' shoes with much of the actual equipment they use on the job and lots of role- playing.

"I think the point of the camp is the relationships it creates between the kids and the public safety figures," said Captain Dave Baer of the police department, "meeting everyone 'off-duty' humanizes us outside of our public roles and creates trust for the kids."

Chris Bowden of the fire department described a training exercise involving a fire safety trailer borrowed from Naples. The trailer re-creates the same conditions that exist in a fire inside a home, with smoke machines eliminating visibility and a bedroom door that becomes hot. Bowden ran through two different scenarios with the campers: fire safety and actual firefighting techniques.

"In the first scenario they acted like firefighters doing a search pattern where children usually hide, like under the bed. In the next exercise they practice fire safety to give kids the idea of what it's like to wake up in a house full of smoke at 3 a.m., feel that their bedroom door is hot and find another way out to safety," said Bowden. "Then we hook them up with the hoses and these kids have a blast."

The campers also got to work a mock crime scene with the police detectives, go out on the water for boating safety, conduct "traffic stops" with police radar, learn gun safety and have a taser demonstration, and ride in the fire department's eight-story ladder truck.

Police Officer Pete Beucler pulled the program together and was excited to see the insight the campers gained in the course of the week.

"The kids really did get to see what the police and fire departments do on a daily basis. They were so eager to learn. My personal favorite parts of the camp were marine safety day and the obstacle course because they showed the less conventional side of our work."

Ray McChesney is a police volunteer who frequently played the camp's "bad guy" in the police scenarios. "I really enjoyed all the role plays because we really got to ham it up. It was great to see how the kids came in, and at first, they were a little quiet and shy, but in the course of the week you saw them really open up and really get into the scenarios."

The campers themselves were eager to share what they enjoyed about the academy. Says Matthew Nugent, "My favorite part was going up in the ladder truck. It goes up eight stories! I also really liked learning how to use the fire extinguishers."

Caitlyn and Connor Schmidt were both fascinated by their experience with police work. Caitlyn loved learning forensic science and "working the crime scene with Detective Stenzel and the taser." Her brother Connor added, "I enjoyed the traffic stops because you had to react to the different scenarios. It really shows you what they do every day and how dangerous it is."

Camper Kristina Temkiewicz responded enthusiastically when asked what she liked best about the camp: "Everything!"

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Kids Water Play Day! - Jupiter Courier

Posted: 21 Jun 2010 08:04 AM PDT

Feels Like: 79°

Humidity: 82%

Precip: 13%

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.