New Public Safety Academy lets students experience search-and-rescue simulation

Karly Graham, The Petoskey News-Review
·2 min read
An aerial view of Wilderness State Park.
An aerial view of Wilderness State Park.

PETOSKEY — This week, the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District is hosting a set of three summer camps, including the new Public Safety Academy.

The academy will culminate with a search and rescue training operation involving multiple local law enforcement agencies and first responders.

The search-and-rescue operation, centering around Wilderness State Park, will have students in grades 8-11 teaming up with local and state law enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, Border Patrol, emergency medical services, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and others in helping locate people lost in the woods and injured after a mock boating accident, according to a media release from the ISD.

Students will also be able to utilize K-9 units, drones, a command center, and different emergency responders during the exercise. The camp is being held from June 20-22.

The search-and-rescue exercise is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 22. The exercise is a drill only. Residents may see an increase in emergency responders or vehicles in the area during the drill.

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The Public Safety Academy — open to students that were in grades 8-11 during the 2022-23 school year — is a three-day-long camp that allows students to immerse themselves in first-responder job experiences.

At the event, students will be able to join dive teams on their vessel to see demonstrations of the marine search and rescue, SCUBA dive in a pool with challenges, and participate in simulator activities at the Eppler Road EMS building before the final simulation.

For more information on the Public Safety Academy, visit charemisdcareertech.org/public-safety-academy.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: New Public Safety Academy lets students conduct mock search-and-rescue