Nine Grade 7 students at Juniper Schools are getting the chance to learn more about policing and topics that affect their lives as well as receive a free laptop through the RCMP Foundation’s Kids, Cops and Computers program.
Once a week from now until about the end of the school year, the participants will attend lunch meetings with Thompson RCMP Const. Sandy Deibert, where they will talk about things such as Crime Stoppers, the daily life of a police officer, thinking before hitting send and threats to school safety, as well as topics like self-esteem, cyber bullying, family violence, dating violence and staying safe online. They receive HP laptops to help them with this and other schoolwork. When the program is completed, if they have met all the requirements, the students get to keep the computers.
“After a couple of discussions we’re going to give you guys an assignment to do,” Deibert told the participating students at the program launch April 12. “You get to create something on your laptop like a Prezi [software] presentation. Or you can do a slide show or you can build a comic strip or a whole bunch of different ideas for some kind of presentation.”
Before the end of the school year, Deibert, school principal Lucy Mayor and the students will appear at a school board meeting to let School District of Mystery Lake trustees know about what they’ve been doing and what they’ve learned.
“There’s nine students so it’s like you guys have won the lottery,” said SDML co-superintendent Lorie Henderson. “We have 3,000 students, 3,100 students in our district, and you’ve been selected so really enjoy the program. Thank you to the RCMP for thinking about our students. They are really special for all of us and I’m glad that you’re a part of our school community, too.”
Participating students were selected on the basis of good citizenship, passion for learning, willingness to participate and limited access to personal technology outside the classroom, including having no computer or one more than a few years old at home.
The students will have use of a classroom for their weekly meetings, which are known as lead and learn sessions.
“I talk for a bit and we have discussions about different topics,” says Deibert.
Insp. Kevin Lewis, head of the Thompson RCMP detachment, told the students that computers are a big part of the present and probably even a bigger part of the future and that the program will help them learn how to use computers in a way that benefits them and others.
“Whether it’s for making presentations or for engaging in social media, there’s rules there’s responsibilities, there’s safeguards that are in place and those are all tools that we’re hoping to provide as the police to make sure that you folks are using them in the right manner,” said Lewis. “We’re really happy to be a part of that, to be a little bit proactive in helping you guys learn.”
Deibert says the lessons students learn in the program will help them in the future as will the computer, which will be transferred to their ownership upon successful completion of all the program requirements.
“These are brand new computers,” she said. “They’re going to last you a long time if you take care of them.”
Providing student with the opportunity to interact positively with police pays dividends down the road.
“If you provide students with the tools to succeed early in life, it can help prevent criminal activity in the future,” says Deibert. “The Thompson RCMP and myself are proud to be part of this initiative and I look forward to working with these students over the next couple of months.”
