The award-winning Rescue Heroes Summer Day Camp hosted by Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES will return for a third summer in 2025, and applications are now available.
Local female students (identifying as female) who are ages 14-17 will have the opportunity to learn about potential careers or volunteer work as first responders during this free, week-long camp.
Applications are now being accepted for the camp. To apply, go to this link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOZaSztFZfJsEX1GN5DnECewVBzuC90ZnfpXl5X9kkpDQO_A/viewform.
For questions, contact Rescue Heroes Program Coordinator MaryBeth Napolitano at 315-867-2067.
Camp attendees will be exposed to careers or volunteer work in first responder areas such as fire, police, ambulance, 911 dispatch center and more. The program will include training in first aid and self-defense, career-focused speakers, trips to local police, fire and emergency dispatch agencies and more.
The camp will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Monday, July 21, through Friday, July 25, at the Herkimer BOCES Gateway Center at 420 E. German St. in Herkimer. Breakfast and lunch will be provided daily. Transportation to and from the Herkimer BOCES Gateway Center will be coordinated through the participating students’ home school districts in most cases.
Rescue Heroes is open to students in school districts in the Herkimer BOCES and Herkimer County region – including Central Valley, Dolgeville, Frankfort-Schuyler, Herkimer, Little Falls, Mount Markham, Owen D. Young, Poland, Richfield Springs, West Canada Valley, Town of Webb and homeschool students in the region.
Former participants in the camp who are in the correct age range are also welcome to return and participate at an advanced level.
The Herkimer BOCES School to Careers program and the Herkimer County Integrated County Planning initiative are coordinating on the camp and received a grant from the state Office of Children and Family Services to make it possible.
The Rescue Heroes Summer Day Camp won an Outstanding Program award at the 18th annual Celebration of Education presented by the Genesis Group and First Source Federal Credit Union on Nov. 21, 2024, at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro.
Rescue Heroes Summer Day Camp 2024 participants pose with a Utica fire truck and Utica first responders at the Utica Fire Academy in summer 2024.