Cambrian College Police Foundations students excel at provincial challenge

SUDBURY – Police Foundations students at Cambrian College locked up some medals, and potentially job opportunities, at a competition in Brampton last month.

Five second-year students took part in the Police Readiness Evaluation for Police (PREP) Challenge at Sheridan College. The PREP fitness test is mandatory for anyone pursuing a career in policing.

Cambrian competed against students from five other colleges. Students must complete an obstacle course in less than 2 minutes, 37 seconds. Contestants must also complete level 7 on the Leger 20-metre shuttle run, in which they run back and forth on a 20-metre course and the laps get progressively faster.

Cambrian students finished first and second in the women’s obstacle course event. Liv Gavey of Sault Ste. Marie took top spot with a time of 1 minute, 39 seconds, setting a new all-time course record by 12 seconds. Taylor Vaillant of Thunder Bay placed second, one second behind Gavey, also shattering the old record in the process.

“Competing in this event is the best experience I’ve had in college so far,” says Gavey. “The event was organized perfectly, everyone was so nice and encouraging, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to demonstrate the hard work that my teammates and I have put into our future careers.”

On the men’s side, Cambrian students Keith Bouthillier of Lively and Felix Poulin-Pitre of Sudbury finished just off the podium in an extremely competitive field, with each completing the obstacle course in 1 minute, 29 seconds.

“Sheridan’s 7th annual PREP Challenge was a great opportunity for our students to compete against some of the fittest Justice students in the province and showcase their hard work among their peers,” says Thomas Kingston, team coach and professor in Cambrian’s School of Public Safety. “There is no doubt our team caught a few colleges and recruiters by surprise as there were multiple comments like ‘What are they putting in the water up north?’ especially after Liv and Taylor beat the all-time women’s record. It was a great day for our athletes. I could not be prouder of their efforts and how they represented themselves, our Police Foundations Program, and ultimately Cambrian College.”

The event was not only a competition, but a potential job interview for students, as recruiters from six different police forces from the Greater Toronto Area were in attendance. Based on Cambrian’s results at the PREP Challenge, some of the police forces in attendance are planning recruiting trips to Cambrian College next year.

To learn more about Cambrian’s Police Foundations program, visit cambriancollege.ca/programs/police-foundations.