Prince William County Public Schools

With a full roster of student cadets, police officers from the Prince William County Police Department (PD) who support PWCS as school resource officers (SROs), worked with community organizations to launch the first Junior Police Academy. Thanks to the commitment of dedicated parents, 24 Kilby Elementary School fourth graders spent their first week of summer attending the police academy. On some of the days, they boarded a bus to various PD locations in the county to experience a crime scene investigation, including evidence processing and forensics; watch a mounted horse patrol demonstration; and learn about vehicle crash investigations. On other days, officers brought hands-on activities to the school.

"Parents were so invested; we had four parent volunteers join us each day, and 20 parents were even able to attend for graduation," said Vicky Castro, social worker at Kilby Elementary, who helped the SROs coordinate the program. "The SROs developed the daily presentations and found community partnerships to provide lunch every day. They also provided funds for student t-shirts and paid for transportation. We are all very happy with the results."