Sammy Collins, 16, left, and Braden Vincent, 15, strike a pose prior to Wednesday's Border Patrol Explorer graduation ceremony held at Valley View School. (By Mark Levy-Herald/Review)
Posted on 03/30/2006 5:55:27 PM PST by SandRat
PALOMINAS — The Naco Border Patrol Explorer post added four new members Wednesday with a ceremony at Valley View School honoring the newest graduates of its training class.
“You came in as individuals and now you graduate as a team,” Darcy Olmos, Patrol Agent in Charge at the Naco Border Patrol station, told the graduates.
The new Explorers are Alexalyn Hardgrave, 15, of Sierra Vista; Sammy Collins, 16, of Sierra Vista; Devin Humphries, 16, of Hereford; and Christopher Tillman, 15, of Sierra Vista.
Humphries was honored for having the group’s highest test score average at 91 percent. Hardgrave also was recognized for her 86.7 average, the second-highest in the class.
The Explorer program is sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America as part of a larger effort called Learning for Life that helps kids to learn first-hand about different careers. While the Boy Scouts provide insurance and some materials to the participants, the sponsoring organization — in this case, the Border Patrol — designs and runs the individual programs.
As Border Patrol Agent and Explorer adviser Mike Cluck explained, the Naco program teaches kids about law enforcement in general — it is not specifically a Border Patrol training course. But because the advisors are Border Patrol agents, they rely on many of their own experiences and expertise during the instruction.
The program begins with a 90-day training course that consists of physical training and classroom study of law enforcement and Border Patrol regulations.
“These Explorers have gone through a lot of push-ups, studying and testing,” advisor and Border Patrol Agent Terrence Ford told the Explorers’ family members in attendance Wednesday.
“I don’t want you parents to think they’re having a tea party after you drop them off.”
David Maple, father of newly graduated Sammy Collins, said he saw big changes in his son after 90 days of training.
“I can see more maturity, more accountability and more responsibility in him now,” Maple said. “And I can see a determination in his eyes to go forward with the Border Patrol.”
After participants complete the training period, they begin to focus more time on field activities, such as firearms training and rappelling. Cluck said they will soon participate in Border Patrol ride-alongs as well.
Wednesday’s graduating class was just the second for the fledgling Naco Explorer post, which started barely a year ago. The first group of Explorers numbered 14, and while they are a new group, they have already distinguished themselves at the national level. Last October, they went up against 34 other Explorer posts at a competition in Paso Robles, Calif., and took home four trophies and $1,000 in scholarship money.
For 17-year-old Explorer Corey Roddey of Palominas, the competition has been the most exciting part of his year-long experience with the program. But he said he has enjoyed just about everything he has done with the Explorers.
“I like the real-world experience you get,” he said. “They put you in lots of scenarios that are just like you’re in law enforcement.”
Two Explorers who participated in the first training class but did not graduate because they did not meet the minimum age requirement at the time were also recognized as official graduates at Wednesday’s ceremony.
They were Helen Brady, 14, of Palominas; and Tyler Boring, 14, of Bisbee.
The Explorer program is open to young men and women between the ages of 14 and 20 who are U.S. citizens and who are currently enrolled students with a C average or better. Anyone interested in joining can call the Naco Border Patrol station at 432-5121.
Sammy Collins, 16, left, and Braden Vincent, 15, strike a pose prior to Wednesday's Border Patrol Explorer graduation ceremony held at Valley View School. (By Mark Levy-Herald/Review)
I wish it was 40,000 that had graduated.
Maybe this will cheer you up a bit? There are 1,500 Scouts in this county from age 6 to age 21 and another 200 adults, in the Council (Cochise, Santa Cruze and Pima Coutnies) there are 13,000 and about 1,000 adults.
Yes, That is good news!
I wonder if the Bright Spot is still there.
What a great country bar...35 years ago.
It's still there but the building is now for sale.
Still in business.
OH MY GAWD, those two kids are drinking a sugar sweetened drink. Don't let Arnold see that. He would have a cow, a very big cow. Plus, Coke must be loving the free advertisement.
Don't know if they've officially seen it yet.
The wall behind the bar used to be adorned with unit patches going all the way back to WWII (?). I think I counted over 150. We used to spend holidays at a ranch on the back side of Cananea and every so often, my brother-in-law and I would slip back across the border just to get away from the wives and kids for a day. Always something to be done to one of our trucks that could only be done in Sierra Vista. So after an afternoon of screwing off we'd head back down and cross the border at Naco. Stopping at the Bright Stop for a beer was an inviolable tradition. Of course grabbing a 6-pack at the Papagallo in Naco honored another tradition, this one Mexican. Last time I was in there was probably Christmastime of '83. Bet it's changed, along with the whole area.
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