Cop Camp teaches valuable lessons to future leaders

Leadership and team- building skills are at the top of the agenda when local Grade 6 students are given an opportunity to participate in the annual Cop Camp at Gesstwood Camp and Education Centre.

What started in 1994 as a reward and learning experience for those Grade 6 students across Essex County who participated in the V.I.P. (Values, Influences and Peers) program has blossomed into an annual five-day camp where the children learn what it’s like to be part of a team, all the while making new friends and seeing the off-duty persona of local police officers.

Special Constable Crystal Wall co-chairs the Cop Camp with Constable Steven Duguay.

The pair say that the invaluable skills picked up at Cop Camp go a long way to making these already-outstanding 11-and-12-year-olds outstanding adults.

“We’ve had several kids who’ve participated in Cop Camp over the years that have become police officers,” says Wall.

The 63 students in this year’s camp have graduated the V.I.P. program in the county’s Catholic and French schools. That number represents 18 schools across the county. The public board hasn’t participated in a number of years.

Those kids were all chosen by their teachers as someone who stands out as a leader in the classroom.

About 20 adults, made up of police officers, administration and a few junior counsellors, make the camp run for the five days, keeping a close eye on the participants and leading them through all of the team-building activities.

The kids arrive on Sunday and stay through Thursday evening and enjoy campfires, sing-alongs, games and even a talent show in the evenings.

During the day, they are divided into eight different squads or teams and taken through a series of stations at the camp and also off-site.

The off-site activities include fishing and sailing at Cedar Island Yacht Club, bowling and even taking in a movie at the local theatre.

At the camp, there is a low ropes course and a high ropes course, which appears to be the on-site activity that everyone gets excited about.

Oliver Husbands of St. John de Brebeuf school in Kingsville was thrilled to be up on the high ropes course, which required him to climb a large tree and traverse across a horizontally hung pole between two trees before being rappelled back to the ground, all while his teammates encouraged him from below.

“It kind of feels like Clip ’n Climb in Windsor,” he said. “Except sometimes the leaves get in your way. But it’s fun and the adrenaline felt good.”

Other activities include a basketball court, an obstacle course, the swimming pool and an area where they can allow their artistic talents to surface.

And it’s all free for the kids to attend.

The cost of the camp is totally covered by COPPS for Charity through the annual bagging of groceries that occurs locally in late March, and other generous donations from the community.

Duguay says the adults are all volunteering their time, including a nurse who spends the week at the camp to make sure any cuts or bruises are taken care of.

And the officers present don’t appear in uniform — until the final day.

He said they want the kids to get to know them as civilians.

“Then when we put on the uniform at the end, they’re not intimidated by it,” he says.