Camp HERO Wraps Up With Awards, Graduation Ceremony
Camp HERO Wraps Up With Awards, Graduation Ceremony
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Amanda Bridgman-
Camp HERO Wraps Up With Awards, Graduation CeremonySYRACUSE – Kosciusko County Sheriff Kyle Dukes hopes he just created a hiring pool after the culmination of his first law enforcement camp that brought 106 kids to Blue Barn Berry Farm.
"This has been absolutely phenomenal," he said. "Totally awesome, and it exceeded my expectations. I was praying for 50, but 106, this is something we'll continue to do next year."
Camp HERO stands for “Honor, Excellence, Respect, Opportunity” and was brought to Kosciusko County by Dukes after he saw what a success the camp was in Huntington County.
Students ages 8 to 13 were kept busy the entire three days with presentations from all areas of first responders, including police, conservation officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. The goal, said Dukes, was mostly a public relations move to show youth what police and first responders do beyond "just arresting bad guys."
"These are the kids who I want to be dreaming about being police officers, firemen, EMTs," Dukes said. "No one wants to do this job. We've got to start over, because if we don't, this profession is in serious trouble."
The kids seemed like happy campers when thinking back on the week. Ten-year-old Zane Likens said the K-9 dogs were his favorite part of the camp.
"It was cool seeing how they train," Likens said.
Carter Severns, 12, said he liked the bomb squad presentation the best. When asked what was the most interesting thing he learned this week, Severns said: "I didn't know the police biker, that they're trained to jump and tackle."
Ten-year-old Kyhan Heisler's favorite part was shooting the air-soft guns. He learned something new: Firemen have a fire boat to rescue people.
Eleven-year-old Luke Lehman liked the K-9 presentation the best, but he thought the presentation by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources about the birds was most interesting.
"What the birds cough up and if you dig into it you'll find bones and stuff," he said. It makes him think about wanting to do a job like that.
Several other campers said their favorite part of the week was the water balloon fight. That got explained by KCSO Chief Deputy Sheriff Shane Bucher at Thursday's graduation.
"We had over 1,400 water balloons flying in 20 minutes and the fire department was spraying on all of us," Bucher said.
One camper chimed in while Dukes was giving a speech at the graduation, promising he will continue the camp for the next eight years. The camper said, "Next year make sure you have two water balloon fights!"
Dukes said he doesn't know who needed this camp more – the students or the first responders.
"I saw more pats on the back and fist bumps between blue and brown uniforms than I have in a long time," he said. "It's been phenomenal."
KCSO Sgt. Chris Francis echoed Dukes’ sentiments and said, "It's nice to have everybody back together."
Special student awards were presented at the graduation to: Bailey Dawson, the Jeffery Shaw Leadership Award; Lily Chaney, the Sheriff's Award for Excellent Camper; and to Joe Leach, the Phil Hochstetler Excellent Staff Member Award.
Dukes said, "I've already got people asking me where do they sign up for next year."
