Lake Villa police show Allendale students the ropes
Submitted by Lekas & Levine P.R.
A team of Lake Villa police officers, led by Chief of Police Craig Somerville, recently guided a group of Allendale Association students on a heady afternoon adventure that included scaling a 40-foot-high climbing wall and navigating a high ropes course set about 30 feet above the ground.
The action took place at Lake Villa's Peacock Camp on Sept. 12, and was the brainchild of Somerville, who visualized children and police officers working together and having fun.
"We embrace Allendale," Somerville said. "We want the kids to know that they're part of our community and that when we work as a team, there's nothing we can't accomplish."
The groundwork was laid several weeks earlier, when the chief and a few of his deputies held a pizza night at one of Allendale's residential girls' cottages. When they showed the students and staff a video of going through the high ropes course and asked who would be up for the challenge, every girl in the room raised her hand.
Because some of the students also participate in Allendale's screen-printing program - part of the school's extensive prevocational program - they made custom T-shirts for the occasion, which proclaimed "Accepted the Challenge!" on the back. The shirts were proudly worn both by officers and students participating in the event.
Their instructor was Mike Gedville, PE teacher and athletic trainer at Lakes Community High School, who observed that there's much to be learned when children are willing to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.
The students were led through a series of team-building and trust exercises before tackling the rock wall and high ropes course to a chorus of cheers and encouragement.
When Somerville made it to the top of the most challenging of the six climbing walls, one student congratulated him by saying, "You didn't do all that training to become a police officer for nothing."
And when another student froze in fear on the high ropes course, she was joined by one of the officers, who coaxed her to keep going. Back safely on the ground, she exulted, "I conquered it!"
In a few weeks, the officers will return to the girls' cottage to watch a video of the day's activities with the students and staff, then present them with certificates for successfully completing the challenge.
"There were so many positive team-building messages that came out of this," Somerville said. He and his officers will take part in future events with other groups of Allendale students.
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