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WHITE HAVEN — The 89 children spending the week at Camp Kresge split up into three groups on a rainy Wednesday morning.
Some crawled through a smoke house provided by Pittston City Fire Department, another group did a team-building exercise with low ropes and the final group did some shotgun shooting.
All of the children were participating in the Pennsylvania State Police Troop P’s Camp Cadet — a week-long law enforcement education program for boys and girls ages 12 to 15 from Luzerne, Sullivan, Bradford and Wyoming counties.
Trooper Tom Kelly, camp director for Troop P, said the 89 campers put this year at the higher end of the program’s historical attendance numbers.
“(The campers) have no contact with the outside world,” he said, noting the cadets stay from Sunday night until Friday, parent- and electronic-free.
That was harder for some cadets than it was for others.
Trenton Ambrose, of Hanover Township, said he misses his social media and music. Instead, he’s communicating with face-to-face contact.
“My cabin is hilarious,” he admitted.
Both Sierra Hildebrand, of Ashley, and Savannah Ortiz, of Nanticoke, miss their phones, but they are easily living without them.
“Running and PT (physical training),” Ortiz said about what she thinks is the hardest part. Ortiz wants to be a trooper when she’s older. And the Camp Cadet experience, she thought, would help her in the long run.
Kelly said the goal of the camp is to “open the kids’ eyes to law enforcement … not only as troopers or only police officers but human beings.”
According to Campcadetonline.com, the camp is an opportunity for youth to see what resources go into police science and experience the different avenues of law enforcement. The camp has law enforcement officers of all types speak to the campers during the week.
“Most kids only see law enforcement in a negative light. … They don’t interact in a positive way,” Kelly said.
The campers also learn teamwork. During a rainy period of the day, they were put through the paces at the low ropes and whale watch — a large platform with a see-saw action which imitates the rocking back and forth of a ship — team-building exercises.
Ambrose took charge as his group of 10 tried to keep the whale watch board even.
“I like to take lead,” he said, but he noted that if someone wants to offer their opinions to help, he’s more than willing to listen.
Another fact of life in the woods is waking up at 5:45 a.m. and going until lights out at 10 p.m. Some days are harder than others for the campers. Especially the first night.
Hildebrand knows the early morning wake-up calls will help her get up for school in a few weeks.
“We’re getting use to it,” Adam Hudock, of Kingston, said of the early mornings. “But most of the time, we don’t like it.”
