In 2019 Corporal Jay Farmer created a summer program for Middle School students called the GFPD IMPACT Academy. IMPACT stands for Integrity, Maturity, Partnership, Accountability, Community and Tenacity. Our goal is to help create leaders and role models in our community. We want our kids to build skills that help them to mature into successful adults. We plan to do this by helping our students to be active, contributing members of our community. By seeing the impact that they can make, in a positive way, it will help them be more responsible with their decisions.

We keep busy with a variety of different activities throughout the summer, including bike riding, swimming, volunteering, gardening, safety lessons, and a concluding trip to the Character Challenge Course in Park Rapids, MN. The Grand Forks Park District generously provides passes to Choice Health and Fitness, as well as the outdoor pools. They allow us to use the Blue Line Club Arena as our “Home Base” for the summer, which is where we start and end each day. Cities Area Transit also generously provides each student with a bus pass, which they use all summer. We spend a lot of time on bicycles, and have some that can be borrowed, if your child doesn’t have access to one. Safe Kids also provides each student with a free helmet, and we conduct some initial safety lessons with all students at the program. We eat our lunches in the park each day, which are provided for free by St. Joseph’s Social Care. As a way to give back, students help to prepare and serve those lunches as well. We take a trip to the Character Challenge Course in Park Rapids, MN, which is paid for by the Fraternal Order of Police. Our Academy wouldn’t look complete without matching shirts, which are provided by Gemini Custom Brands.

Our program was canceled in 2020, due to COVID-19, which gave us an opportunity to focus on making 2021 an amazing summer, which it was! We also were selected as the recipients of the 2021 Rydell Car and Bike Show funds, which is helping to make the upcoming IMPACT Academy better than ever!

If you have a Middle School student that would be interested in participating in the IMPACT Academy, please have them speak with their School Resource Officer (SRO). You can also reach Corporal Holweger, Corporal Bullinger, or Sgt. Cannon by email.

Click here for an application.

 Cpl. Justin Holweger

Jholweger@grandforksgov.com

Cpl. Matt Bullinger

mbullinger@grandforksgov.com

Sgt. Cody Cannon

CCannon@grandforksgov.com