Wadsworth police station hosts their annual Safety Forces Camp at Wadsworth Middle School each summer, and this year’s camp will take place from June 9 through the 13.
Safety Forces Camp teaches kids about safety forces such as Police, fire and EMS. It consists of students from grades 4-7.
“I did the camp when I was going into fifth grade and when I was going into eighth grade. I know my older siblings also did the camp as well,” Grace Gale said, a student at Wadsworth High School and volunteer of the Safety Forces camp. “This will be my second year volunteering.”
This year, the camp will start at 8:30 a.m. and will end at 1:00 p.m. Parents can sign their child up by going to their social media and accessing the link; there are only 80 slots volunteers can fill up each year.
In the camp, students are randomly placed into a group along with a few teen leaders. Each group usually has two to three teen leaders from Wadsworth High School. Participants take classes to learn more about the workforce. They watch K-9 demonstrations, dispatch, taser demonstration, firefighter presentations and other practices. The Life Flight Helicopter lands in the parking lot between Wadsworth High School and the middle school in front of the kids, and they get to check out the inside and see how everything works.
This year, Officer Ben Smith is running the camp. This is his first year in charge. However, he has been involved with the camp for five years.
“I work with a lot of different people and businesses to ensure the camp runs smoothly, and we have everything we need to have a great camp,” Smith said.
Each Year, the Mayor comes in for a class and teaches the kids about what city government is all about.
“Mayor Laubaugh comes in to speak about city government, and Fran Kitchen (Founder and Director at Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc.) brings in animals like Owls, Squirrels, groundhogs, etc. to show the kids up close and educate them on animals,” Smith said. “We also have the U.S. Military come in (this year is the U.S. Marines) to give a presentation to the kids.”
This is the Safety Forces’ 24th annual camp, Smith and many others will continue preparing until their first day on June 9.
