August 23, 2000

Dirlam takes part in trooper training

Traverse City resident attends American Legion Student Trooper Program

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       Kara Dirlam has a dream. It is a dream she has nurtured since she was a young girl and now, entering her senior year of high school at Traverse City Central High School, she is one step closer to achieving it.
      Dirlam wants a career in law enforcement and dreams one day of being an officer with the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Department or another county department. She completed a step along that path earlier this month when she attended the American Legion Student Trooper Program in Lansing.
      The Michigan State Police facilitate the Student Trooper Program, giving high school juniors and seniors a taste of police life - from evidence procedures and weapons use to finger printing and advanced driving techniques. Students also had a week-long sample of what life would be like in a police academy, with a boot camp flavor and intensive physical training interspersed with classroom time.
      From an early revile to the nighttime bed check, students were kept on the go, clocking miles on their running shoes and hours in the lecture hall.
      "I really wanted the experience, it was just like the academy, very hard," said Dirlam, who was one of 45 participants in the program. "Being a police officer has been my dream since I was five or six and I've always been interested in the work that people in law enforcement do.
      "The physical training was the hardest I've every done but I loved every minute of the classroom time, it was so interesting."
      As the week progressed, Dirlam found the physical challenges of the program insurmountable and organizers of the program sent her home after three days for medical reasons. However, her determination to be in law enforcement is not daunted by this temporary setback. From her three days in Lansing she learned that she was pursuing the right field and will continue to follow her dream.
      "Going there I knew I didn't want to be a state trooper, but the training with them really opened my eyes as to what I would like to do," Dirlam said. "We had two canine handlers come in and I would really love to do that."
      Dirlam's enthusiasm and determination, despite some obstacles, are just what organizers at the Michigan State Police have in mind for these students. They have facilitated the Student Trooper Program for 26 years, working to provide young people interested in law enforcement with a role model of a police officer and a glimpse of what a police career would be like.
      "Our whole idea is to give the students fun for a week but fun in an arena the deals with the criminal justice system, policing and law enforcement," said Captain Gene Hoekwater, Commander of the Michigan State Police Training Division. "This program provides a whole lot of exposure to things in law enforcement and a lot of learning. Students get to see everything from the inside."
      The American Legion post in Traverse City has sent a student to the Trooper Training for the past 15 years. This year they had six applications, four of whom met the eligibility requirements. Besides a future interest in a law enforcement career, other requirements included good health, being in the eleventh or twelfth grade, having a minimum grade point average of 2.0, good citizenship, a good school attendance record and no juvenile or criminal record.
      Glenn Reed, junior sergeant of arms for the post screened the program applications, taking on the difficult job of choosing which student to send. The post this year had money for just one student's tuition, which comes to $225 for the week. Reed noted that post officials earmark money from fund-raisers during the year or memorials for this program. He hopes to see the funds and the program expand in the future.
      "It would be nice if we could send maybe four students from Traverse City every year, one from every high school in town," said Reed, who noted that the Traverse City post is one of only 61 other American Legion posts of the 448 posts statewide that sponsor students to this program.