Police Academy: Week 1
05/27/2015
The time has finally come to go to Bloomington for police academy... my cadet year flew by!The first week of academy has been incredible. I have never felt more sure of my choice to go into law enforcement. I've never wanted anything more. The first day I met all the cadets from each IU campus, all 36 of them. And I am proud to announce that every single one made it through the first week. We had our pt test Tuesday. The test consists of a mile and a half run, sit ups, vertical jump, 300 meter sprint and push ups. We were tested based on the exit standards which are as follows:
Police Academy Exit Standards:
Mile and a half run 15 min.
Vertical Jump 16 inches
Sit ups 44 in a minute
Push ups 30
300 meter sprint 70 seconds
At 6 a.m. we formed a line and lined up by height. I was number uno... big surprise I'm the shortest in the class (standing tall at four foot eleven and a half). So I had to complete the vertical jump test first. I wasn't expecting to pass it because I had been practicing at home and recorded that I can only jump 14 inches max. However, I was pleasantly surprised to pass the vertical jump. One cadet threw up during the pt test luckily it wasn't me. I had purposely planned to wake up at four a.m. to eat a PB&J, giving my breakfast plenty of time to digest. We were warned that someone would puke but I was determined it wouldn't be me. There was a photographer there to capture the moment. My goal is to never vomit during pt and thus far I have been successful. Strange goal but a goal I hope to achieve. Eight cadets passed all five pt standards and I was one of them.
My pt test score:
Mile and a half run 12:21
Vertical Jump 16 inches
Sit ups 46 in a minute
Push ups 35
300 meter sprint 56 seconds
I'm excited to see how these scores improve as I become stronger through my training.
As the week progressed we spent each morning doing pt and learning how to complete exercises in unison as well as run in formation. I am quite horrific at staying in step when running in formation. Wednesday was the first pt session that reflected how the rest of academy will be. As we are running in formation a cadence is called and the formation repeats it. This helps with our breathing and keeps our minds off how long the runs are which I am very thankful for. Wednesday I was dropped which means that I had to do ten push ups for not doing something correctly. I was only dropped once for not staying in step. Thursday's pt session is in the pool and I wore a floating device because I am not a strong swimmer. There was about six others with flotation devices. One cadet was learning how to swim for the first time and he is doing very well! Friday I managed to concentrate hard enough that I stayed in step during the formation run.
My roommates and I made a countdown that takes up the entire living room wall. We rip each day off the wall after we get out of class at five. One week complete and thirteen more weeks to go! :)
