If you asked a child to name some heroes in his or her community, it would come as no surprise to hear many of them say, “police officer.”

That’s also why it is no surprise that last week’s first meeting of the Proctorville Youth Police Academy had such a high turnout. You have to expect any opportunity in which children get to emulate their heroes will be well received.

For the first meeting, more than 30 children got to participate in areas of education and physical fitness training. Set up to be a monthly meeting, participants were also given the task of a community challenge, which they can record and present at the next meeting.

The challenge was to make sure their porch lights were working, to clean up sidewalks and to help an elderly neighbor. While these challenges are relatively easy to accomplish, it shows children that even small efforts can make a big difference in their communities.

We couldn’t be more thrilled that so many children wanted to take part in the youth police academy. That just goes to show that they want to be involved in keeping their neighborhoods safer and better places to live.

The academy is open to all youth from first to 12th grade and is not limited to Proctorville residents. This is a great opportunity to meet children from other parts of the county and Tri-State.

The next meeting will be at 5 p.m. on Oct. 22. The location is to be determined, so keep an eye out on our community calendar for an update. For more information on the group, visit the Proctorville Youth Police Academy Facebook page.