Like a lot of ready-to-graduate high school students, Travis Anderson was unsure of what to do in the future. Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, Anderson is now contemplating a career in law enforcement, and helping to ratify his choice was a week spent at the RCMP Jean Minguy Memorial Youth Academy in Vernon. “I had thought about looking into policing as a career, then a friend told me about this academy that he went to, I joined and got in,” said Anderson, now 18, who graduated from Kalamalka Secondary School in June. “It was awesome, one of the craziest weeks of my life. I loved it.” The academy simulates the RCMP training depot in Vernon. Grade 11 and 12 students from throughout the Okanagan and Thompson regions spend a week at the Vernon Army Camp learning the basics of policing. And that includes some early morning hours, something Anderson – and many of his fellow cadets – are not used to. “We’d get up at 4 or 4:30 for inspection, and you’d have to make your bed, which I don’t regularly do then or now,” laughed Anderson, a Canadian Tire employee for the past three years. Besides learning how to make beds, cadets are given demonstrations on different aspects of police work. All of the instructors are current members of the RCMP, some being former academy attendees. “After taking this, the academy showed me stuff I needed to do in terms of self-discipline and self-motivation,” said Anderson. “I was 17 years old, hanging out and doing nothing. If I was going to do this I needed to be serious about it. “It was such an awesome week, I’d recommend it to anybody.”
Kathy Szoboticsanec is the Vernon RCMP school liaison officer in charge of organizing the Minguy Memorial Youth Academy. She has seen plenty of recruits like Anderson. “Even if it’s not policing, the academy gives them direction to another career path,” said Szoboticsanec, a 19-year police officer who would have loved to have had the opportunity to attend an academy like the Minguy Memorial when she was in high school. “Some say ‘I know this is what I want to do’ and get a sense of focus. Some see policing as just being in a police car or on the street. They have no idea of all the different career options or choices. “There are lots of things you can do within the organization. People want to go into the investigative section, polygraph ERT (Emergency Response Team), really specialized sections. There’s a lot of time commitment and studying, and a lot of work, but it’s so rewarding.” The 2010 academy drew 48 students, including some from the Kamloops school district for the first time.
Szoboticsanec is hoping to expand those numbers this year. The academy is open to all Grade 11 and 12 students, and information on the 2011 RCMP Jean Minguy Memorial Youth Academy can be found on the Vernon and North Okanagan-Shuswap school district websites.
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