Senior Stephanie Gonzalez was one of a select group of about 175 teenagers representing 76 New York Police Department precincts and specialty agencies at the Law Enforcement Explorers program in August. Hosted by Fordham and run in conjunction with Boy Scouts of America, the program is designed to educate young women and men, ages 14 to 20, about law enforcement.
Stephanie happily made the daily trek to Fordham's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx for two weeks of physical exercises, drills, discipline, and hard work. Visitors to campus often stopped to watch the “platoons” in action, as uniformed teens marched in unison and practiced their drills while instructors shouted words of encouragement. She also attended classes on a variety of topics taught by law enforcement officers.
The two-week session at Fordham was capped off by a week of outdoor challenges at Camp Keowa, a sleep-away Scouting camp in Narrowsburg, New York. "I slept in a tent with a bunch of spiders," Stephanie added parenthetically in describing the adventure. Eight-legged bunkmates notwithstanding, the Explorer experience was a success and one in which Stephanie clearly excelled. At a formal graduation ceremony at 1 Police Plaza in New York City she was awarded first place in the Drill Competition and recognized as the female with the fastest time in the Camp Keowa obstacle course.