GREAT PARTICIPANTS FIND TRAINING VALUABLE

The first GREAT summer came to an end Wednesday.

At a graduation ceremony at Greater Dimension Church, about 20 children ages 8 to 13 had their final day of the Gang Resistance Education and Training program.

While GREAT has been taught in area elementary and middle schools since the Cape Girardeau Police Department started it in 1994, this is the first year it was offered during the summer.

The three-week program drew as many as 33 youngsters to the four-hour classes. There, twice a week, the participants were taught the difference between gangs and clubs, shown basic life-saving techniques, taught what to do in an emergency, and played.

"A lot of these kids are looking for a structured environment," said Ike Hammonds, a Cape Girardeau police patrolman and GREAT instructor. Hammonds said many of the children in GREAT came to the program after leaving Southeast Missouri State University's National Youth Sports program. "The only other option is to sit around the house and do nothing."

Hammonds said the summer program is slightly different from the fall curriculum. He said the children aren't required to stay in the summer sessions and are sometimes asked to leave if they are acting up.

"We'll tell them if they can't behave then we don't want them to come back," Hammonds said. "But there they are at the next class."

Hammonds said that is one of the lessons the instructors at GREAT try to instill -- respect. But more than anything, he said, the children get a safe place to play with their friends during the summer.

Hammonds said organizers are looking to expand next year's program with more participants and bigger facilities.

Hammonds told the children at their graduation that getting an education is their job. "No matter what is happening at home, it's your job to get up every morning and go to school," he said.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Rick Hetzel was the commencement speaker Wednesday. He told the children that he was proud of them. Hetzel said some of the most serious choices anyone makes is when they are young.

"If you want to do something bad enough, it doesn't matter where you come from; it doesn't matter what someone else wants from you," Hetzel told the children. "It's what you want and how hard you work to get it that's important."

Nick McClinton, 11, a GREAT participant, said he feels better able to handle an emergency now because of the basic aid training he received over the summer. He said he knows the difference between a gang and a club and the different way those two organizations raise money.

McClinton said he doesn't have any interest in being a gang member.

Carolyn Thomas of Cape Girardeau was a team leader and chaperone during summer GREAT. She said the lessons taught during the summer program will stick with the children because they use the information every day.

"They know about gangs," Thomas said. "This program helps them to have more ability to say no."