I am asked time and time again how we accomplish all that we do with our summer programs and the only thing that I can relate this accomplishment to is community involvement, community collaboration and hard work.
We here at the Saline County Sheriff’s Office assist in several youth programs during the summer and work with many kids. By having many different programs we have been able to work with many different youth, who have a variety of interest as well as highlighting several aspects of our community. Our programs are designed in a multi-modal approach addressing the emotional, behavioral and social needs of youth while teaching them how to expand their boundaries within our community.
We have partnered with several agencies in our community to accomplish our goals as well as allowing them to accomplish theirs. By partnering with the Saline Parks and Recreational Department we have been able to allow them to register, advertise and assist with staffing for the facilitation of many of our programs.
One of my favorite summer programs is our G.R.E.A.T. Adventure Camp. This activity developed and is traditionally held during the week of July 4th (Parks and Rec. could not run other programs during this short week, so we are able to use their staff, who are normally occupied with other tasks).
I met with the Recreation Program Director and we picked out things that could be done in our community utilizing area parks and activities. We begin the mornings by meeting at a community center where we play games for about an hour. We then move to different areas of town, checking out many of the parks in Salina . We have taught the youth to play frisbee golf, tennis, golf, funnel ball and run obstacle courses within the park playgrounds. It is pretty easy to apply the concepts of G.R.E.A.T. with this program. We usually have one big event during the week, such as attending a Wichita Wranglers, or Kansas City Royals game. We end each of the days at our public pool where the youth are allowed to swim until they are picked up by their parents. This week is generally attended by about 30 middle school youth.
This year we did something different by going to our local access television station for an afternoon. The youth were given instruction on how to make a video production and then did a short presentation on our camp. They were broken into groups and each group did a segment for one of the days. I heard over and over, there is more to do in Salina than you think.
One of our most popular programs is our Fishing Explorers program. This program is run in cooperation with a Lakewood Discovery Center (a branch of Salina Parks and Rec.) and Kansas Department and Wildlife and Parks (KDWP). We have a fish biologist, Tommy Burger, from Kansas Department of Parks and Wildlife who helps us to teach youth to fish. We focus on Basics and Bluegill, Bass Fishing, and Catfish fishing in area ponds, lakes and streams. In this program I have learned a lot about fishing and feel more competent fishing than I did a few years ago. I can only imagine how the kids feel. I do see the amazement in their eyes when they catch 15-20 bluegill or sunfish in a day, considering most have never caught a fish before. I am able to tie the methodology of G.R.E.A.T. into this program as we work with the youth through the day. Through the summer we teach about 170 youth to fish.
One of the smaller towns in our County has established a summer youth program within the community and they are glad to have us as partners in their activities. The Assaria Summer Youth Program is operated by the City of Assaria and they are thrilled to have us come out and assist with activities as well as allowing me that chance to present the G.R.E.A.T. Summer Curriculum. We reach nearly 80 youth from the rural community by assisting in this program.
We do offer a G.R.E.A.T. Summer Camp and a G.R.E.A.T. Leadership Camp for Saline County youth. On average we work with 100 youth in these activities over a weeks’ time. During this summer activity we spend a week at a 4H camp where they are allowed to take part in many activities including a curriculum dealing with friends, friendships, and families. The best part of this camp is that we use it as a lead-in to the G.R.E.A.T. Classroom instruction. This does tend to be the most labor intensive and the most expensive of our summer programs. We have relied on the G.R.E.A.T. Officers from Fort Riley Military Police, Drug Demand Reduction Personnel from the Kansas National Guard and the Salina Prevention Community to assist with staffing these events.
One of the essential parts to our summer programs is the method of transportation. I have worked with Durham School Services, as well as our rural schools to arrange the transportation using their busses. Durham has agreed to transport youth for us at a reduced rate. Our School Districts have also allowed us to use busses and we reimburse the driver for their time.
I am convinced that the best way to make a program work is to look in your community and see what is going on. Then see how you can collaborate with the programs currently operating, adding your agencies specialty and the concepts of G.R.E.A.T. to the program.
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