At-risk boys thrive in Leadership Academy

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

After a steady week of class work and lots of challenging-but-fun physical activities, the boys have earned a break and are proud to put on their blue shirts and ties, and graduate.

The 20 boys are participants/graduates of the St. Cloud Youth Leadership Academy. The most recent SCYLA graduation ceremony took place this past summer at the St. Cloud Police Department when each of the boys, ages 13-16, received a participation plaque and another plaque inscribed with name, camp nickname and laudatory comments about their character traits. In addition, each boy received a medallion engraved with three words: Respect, Trust, Responsibility. Those three words and – most importantly what they mean – comprise the three pillars of the Youth Leadership Academy program.

The boys must ask themselves and follow through on this question: “Am I doing the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reason?”

Each boy was congratulated by St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson, as well as the other 10 police officers who taught the 2016 program. Proud parents applauded with gusto as the 20 graduates were honored.

The Academy consists of a kind of boot-camp retreat on the grounds of Camp Ripley near Little Falls. The week-long camp consists of classes and activities – everything from learning dinner-table etiquette to job-interviewing skills, from marching and running to wall-climbing and an obstacle course. During the camp, tight teamwork pervades every activity, mental and physical. Although it’s very rigorous, with no time for goofing off, participants have a fun time despite the grueling physical challenges of some of the activities.

The Academy was designed for at-risk boys in their young teenage years, not “bad” boys but rather those who made one or more unfortunate decisions that might have set them on a course toward further trouble. The candidates for the Academy are referred through various agencies and schools in the St. Cloud School District.

Modeled after a similar Youth Academy in Michigan, Anderson brought the concept with him when he was hired as St. Cloud police chief four years ago. Previously, Anderson had set up a similar academy he led for about nine years when he worked in the Twin Cities.

The idea behind the academy is to build and support relationships with at-risk youth and to mentor them during a period of time. After graduation from the week-long camp, the boys and their law-enforcement teachers/activities guides stay in touch on a regular basis, such as at quarterly field trips, recreational gatherings or community-service volunteer projects. Another way the program remains ongoing is some of the graduates are asked to help at subsequent camps, giving the new recruits encouragement and boosting their morale if it should sag from time to time.

The boy graduates also communicate on a regular basis at their schools with their school-resource officers, most of whom are the camp teachers, along with Anderson, a sergeant and a Minneapolis officer. The latter two have been involved in the academy ever since Anderson started it 13 years ago.

“I’m happy and proud of the academy,” Anderson told the Newsleader in an interview. “It will continue. It’s a good program that benefits the kids and the officers.”

Anderson and others have been working hard to implement a similar academy for girls and hope to have one ready for next year.

It would be ideal, Anderson said, if there were enough personnel and funding to expand the academy for more children, but – for now, anyway – the maximum number for each week-long camp is limited to about 20. And that’s because in order to do close teamwork and small-group team projects, the number of participants has to be limited, otherwise it would be difficult, if not impossible, to do the intensive one-on-one communications and team work throughout the rigorous week. And it’s that kind of personalized working together that gets good long-term results, Anderson noted.

“The program needs that kind of personal touch,” he said.

How is the academy funded?

“I find the money for it,” Anderson said, a decisive determination in his voice. “The parents don’t have to pay for anything, and that’s the way we want it to be.”

Anderson has talked up the program to many organizations, businesses and individuals. After they hear his passionate spiel, they are always receptive. Two dozen business sponsors have been very generous. Anderson said donors fully understand kids are the resources of the future and keeping them out of the criminal justice system must be a top societal priority.

“This (the academy) does help keep kids out of the criminal justice system,” he said. “It’s a program of true mentoring.”

It costs taxpayers anywhere from $60,000 to $75,000 if a “kid” grows up to become enmeshed in the criminal justice system. Anderson is a firm believer that funding programs in schools, such as music and sports, is a wise investment because it’s well documented those kinds of programs set children on the right paths. Cutting those programs because of budget constraints is a big mistake in Anderson’s mind.

Children, Anderson said, can see right through the hypocrisy of adults talking about “children as the resource of the future” and then cutting funds for school programs and non-school programs that help children develop in healthy ways.

“These kids in the academy are not ‘bad’ kids,” he said. “But, like all of us at that age, they came to a fork in the road and made a decision that started them on the wrong trajectory. That trajectory can be changed.”

One of the officers working with the children at camp was St. Joseph Police Officer Matt Johnson, who serves as the school-resource officer for Kennedy Community School in that city. Johnson described to the Newsleader how he worked with the kids in small groups of from three to five students. Among their activities were paintball, a rappelling tower and an obstacle course of about two dozen tough obstacles to overcome. At end of day, Johnson participated in small mentoring groups with the children.

“The camp was fun. It was exciting,” Johnson said. “The kids were very respectful, and I think it was very beneficial for them to be there. A lot of them said they want to return to help. At that camp, there were five mentors who had been students in the program from previous camps.”