State police host Camp Cadet for children
EARL TOWNSHIP >> Raymond Acevedo grew up watching fire engines leave Reading’s Liberty Fire Station at Fifth and Laurel streets with their lights flashing and sirens blaring.
It made Acevedo want to be a first responder. He became a volunteer firefighter, served four years in the U. S. Marine Corps and then was hired as a police officer in Reading.
Sunday afternoon, Aug. 11, Acevedo was hoping to inspire 80 boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 15 to be the next generation of first responders.
Sunday was the first day of Camp Cadet, a weeklong experience put on by the Pennsylvania State Police’s Reading station at Camp Manatawny in Earl Township. The station houses Troop L, which covers Berks, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties.
“I knew I wanted to come back and do something on a local level and give back to a community that has done so much for me,” Acevedo said.
Sunday afternoon shouts of “Yes, Sir” and “No, Sir” filled the air as campers learned how to stand at attention and march
properly.
Camp Cadet started in 1985, said Trooper David Beohm, camp director and public information officer for the Reading station.
“We try to instil discipline, integrity, so the kids learn to fend for themselves and be respectful,” he said.
Beohm said the experience — from which cadets will graduate Saturday morning — is similar to a military boot camp.
Campers learn marksmanship, swimming, horseback riding and see presentations on law enforcement.
Many of the campers’ parents or siblings attended the camp, Beohm said.
The camp is all funded through donations, Beohm said. The state does not provide any funding.
A former camper’s mother called Beohm to tell him her son credited Camp Cadet for setting him on the path to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Beohm said.
Those stories are what keeps Beohm coming back year after year.
“The younger senior counselors that come back, that to me speaks volumes about the camp,” he said. “They take time off to come. They come from Germany. They come from Alabama.”
Beohm said he also likes to see the transformation the kids go through.
“Watching them trying to march they look like baby deer,” he said. “By the end, when they come out for graduation, I get the chills watching them because you see how far they’ve come.”
Acevedo was the perfect choice to lead the Bulldog Squad; the Marines’ mascot is an English bulldog.
“I told my squad we are winning everything,” Acevedo said. “Being a Marine Corps veteran, I want to make sure I have the most disciplined squad in the entire camp. I want to make sure we are top dog.”
Despite spending only a couple of hours with his campers Sunday afternoon, Acevedo was excited for the week ahead.
And they were inspired by his pep talk to be the best.
“You could see already, that they are trying to soak that in,” he said. “It’s awesome to be able to work with these kids. You know they want to be here.”