City students head to lake for new experience for some

NEW MID DLETOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Some Paul C Bunn Elementary students experienced something new Monday — fishing.

Elementary students and police officers were fishing on the shores of the lake at the New Middletown Sportsman’s Club. The field trip was the conclusion of a new program cleverly named Cops and Bobbers.

Bruce Palmer is a substitute teacher for Paul C Bunn and the main coordinator for the program.

“What it does is allow kids to explore other activities to engage in the outdoors that they might not get to experience in the city of Youngstown,” Palmer said.

Cops and Bobbers is an anti-drug and alcohol program that promotes healthy choices. Dean of Students Evelyn Veal said the school is a Positive Behavior Intervention school (PBI), and the program teaches their missions and also builds community.

“This is a plus for us to build relationships with our community peace officers. With us being a PBI School not only do we teach science, social studies, language arts and math, but we also teach expectations with a behavior metric,” Veal said.

Different local police stations and the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office came to the event. They helped students hook worms and cast their rods.

Youngstown Patrol Officer Casey Kelly said he hopes this program influences future behaviors.

“Getting to work directly with the kids is awesome because we get to know them. They get to know us. It shows them we take our uniform off,” Kelly said. “If they’re going to make a decision, hopefully, they can remember that in their head and say, ‘You know what, Officer Kelly taught me this,'”

The school is hoping Cops and Bobbers can become an annual event.

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