If the idea behind the First Responder Camp happening this week in St. Paul is to get young people to overcome fear and explore careers that help save lives, consider Fareeda Oyesola proof that it's working.
The 16-year-old Johnson Senior High School student does not know how to swim. Yet, the part of the program she was most looking forward to was getting onto White Bear Lake with the Ramsey County sheriff's water rescue team.
"It will be fun. I'm not scared of it," she said of being out in a boat. "But ... I just can't swim. So, maybe that part is a little terrifying."
Organized by Steve Hurvitz, the force behind the Learning Jet science, technology, engineering and math education program based at the St. Paul Downtown Airport, the camp gives 17 students an up-close introduction to water rescue and recovery, firefighting, air ambulance and rescue, crisis negotiations, first aid and basic CPR. Monday morning, students gathered in the Learning Jet's classroom in a converted hangar for team-building exercises and an introduction to what their week will include.
It's the camp's first year, Hurvitz said. It was ready to start in 2020 but was sidelined by COVID-19. The aim of the camp, he said, is similar to what the Learning Jet tries to accomplish all year long: whet young people's appetites in possible careers. In fact, several of the first responder careers being explored this week, such as air medic, have an aviation component, he said.
"All of it is totally free [for the students]. We're bringing in kids to see if it works," Hurvitz said, adding that the program is feeding and providing transportation to participants. "Like the Learning Jet, many of these things touch the aviation world. You're not necessarily going to become a pilot, but there's so much that's connected to the air."
This year's group of students comes from Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs at Johnson and Como Park Senior High School as well as the JK Movement youth program in St. Paul.
Other agencies and organizations partnering to put on the First Responder Camp include Metropolitan Airports Commission officials, St. Paul and Roseville police, the State Patrol and Life Link out of North Memorial Health. Joining forces to work with students makes sense, said Roy Magnuson, a longtime teacher and coach for St. Paul Public Schools who now works as public information officer in the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office.