Lessons From the Law

So, how many chickens does it take to feed 130 barbecue guests?

A classroom full of Ventura junior high students scrunched their faces in thought over that conundrum. This wasn’t just some exercise in word-problem mathematics. This was serious business.

The 28 students were charged with planning an outdoor meal to celebrate their own graduation. On Friday, they will become the first to complete the Ventura Police Department’s Youth Academic Leadership Program.

Scores of proud parents, grandparents, police officers and other program supporters are expected to turn out for the event.

But like every activity during this four-week program, there’s a lesson amid talk of paper plates and burning briquettes.

“We have to work as a team,” said 12-year-old De Anza Middle School student Chase, a stern look crossing his freckled face. “We have to cook everything ourselves, do the serving, the cleaning. We’re running the show.”

Using about $4,000 in grant money, the Ventura Police Department’s school resource and youth intervention officers designed the program, with the goal of offering lessons in leadership and life.

Cpl. Sean Conroy said his team of half a dozen officers asked school counselors to refer about 15 youths who could benefit from a few weeks of exposure to positive role models.

Nearly 30 names came back.

Most were regulars in school discipline offices. Some struggled with less-than-perfect home lives. Others just had trouble making friends.

“Our main goal here is to teach them leadership skills,” said Jon Hixson, a school resource officer. “Rather than be followers, we want them to make good decisions for themselves.”

The pilot program has included lectures on drug abuse, college preparation, personal hygiene and problem solving. There were field trips to Ventura City Hall, the Point Mugu Navy base, the county courthouse in Ventura and the evolving Cal State Channel Islands campus near Camarillo. Every now and then, they even caught a movie.

“You got to keep it fun for them too,” Conroy said.

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Despite the officers’ best efforts, it was tough getting some of their would-be leaders excited about the program. What kid wants to rise early on a summer morning to be in a classroom by 9 a.m.?

To ensure attendance, the officers took it upon themselves to drive to each student’s home and escort them to the Balboa Middle School campus, where classes were held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since June 19. Cherish, a 12-year-old from Anacapa Middle School, remembers her reaction to learning how she’d be spending the better part of her summer vacation.

“I didn’t want to be here with a bunch of cops,” she said bluntly.

It showed in her attitude, Cherish admits. She missed a few classes in the beginning. One of six children being raised by a single mom, Cherish was used to fighting to get her way. She had her defenses up. As far as she was concerned, it was up to the officers to earn her trust.

But it turned out to be a soft-spoken fellow student, Amanda, who got through to Cherish. Amanda, who says she is typically introverted, spent the past month shedding her shell.

“I have leadership potential,” said Amanda, a 12-year-old Cabrillo Middle School student. “I just didn’t realize it. It just needed to be brought out.”

Amanda excelled in basketball, a game the group played nearly every morning. Often, she took it upon herself to organize a team.

“If you are going around and asking someone to be on your team, and you don’t even know them,” Amanda said, “it makes them feel good. And then that makes me feel like I’ve done something good.”

It’s a lesson that wasn’t lost on Cherish.

“She’s just nice,” Cherish said of her new friend. “Even to people who are mean to her. She’s teaching me to be nicer to everyone.”

Exactly the point, said officers, who took care to select activities that forced students to sometimes rely on themselves, sometimes on each other. A test early this week was the “Trust Walk,” where one student agrees to be blindfolded, trusting that another student will safely lead them across the school playground.

But that was nothing compared with an earlier task, the students agreed. All 28 had to work together to erect a 35-foot tent on the Navy base.

“That was a task,” Amanda said, rolling her eyes as she remembered the endeavor. “It was really challenging. We had to use a lot of team work.” Other lessons came from performing even the simplest tasks, such as a trip to Target to pick out their uniforms.

“Everyone wanted something different,” Hixson said.

The girls didn’t want to look like each other. The boys wanted size 44 jeans.

The group settled on black slacks and Polo shirts for field trips, blue shorts and T-shirts for class days.

The final test comes Friday when the students take over a grocery store, armed with a shopping list for the barbecue, and perhaps a calculator--to help measure serving sizes to determine just how many chickens they’ll need to feed them and nearly 100 guests.

They’ll spend the afternoon cooking. Hungry guests start arriving at 6 p.m.

Some students are already feeling the pressure.

“But I don’t even know how to cook,” 12-year-old Andrew said. “I won’t know what I’ll be doing.”

Cpl. Al Davis, the department’s barbecue guru who will oversee Friday’s cookout, simply smiled wide at his worried pupil.

“You just guaranteed yourself a spot right in front of the barbecue,” Davis said.

Even Cherish had to grin. Turns out, a bunch of Ventura cops weren’t such bad people to spend the summer with after all.

“They’re just trying to teach us how to get through life,” she said. “And it’s been really fun.”