{"id":13052,"date":"2026-03-05T17:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-middle-school-students-show-appreciation-to-police-with-homemade-treats\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:35:10","slug":"cortez-middle-school-students-show-appreciation-to-police-with-homemade-treats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-middle-school-students-show-appreciation-to-police-with-homemade-treats\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Middle School students show appreciation to police with homemade treats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cortez
Cortez Middle School students from the Sources of Strength club took homemade treats to the Cortez Police Department as a thank you to local law enforcement. (Joannie Olson\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Students at Cortez Middle School delivered homemade treats to the Cortez Police Department last week as part of a Sources of Strength project that also gave them a look at how officers serve the community.<\/p>\n

Students in the school\u2019s Sources of Strength club organized the project after a student suggested thanking local law enforcement, coordinator and social studies teacher Joannie Olson said. Rylee Davis\u2011Yen, whose father is a police officer, proposed the idea and the club supported it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police do so much for our community. They deserve to get something back,\u201d Davis\u2011Yen, an eighth grader, said.<\/p>\n

Students selected simple recipes and spent the morning preparing Rice Krispie treats, cookies, chip and dip, BBQ Little Smokies and chicken drummies in the school kitchen. Groups of three or four completed each dish with help from Olson and MCHS Youth Leadership Club coordinator Angela Adams.<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students worked in groups of three or four to make the goodies. (Joannie Olson\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The students baked for about three hours before heading to the PD. (Joannie Olson\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt was a great experience. We got to learn to cook stuff and then got to give it to the cops,\u201d seventh grader Alexander Heiney said.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, the students delivered the food to the police department, where about 16 participants toured the building and learned how officers and dispatchers support the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed visiting the police station because it helped me understand its role in our community,\u201d eighth grader Patience Harvey said. \u201cSeeing how the officers work to keep us safe made me appreciate their dedication and service even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have wanted to be on SWAT since I was 10 and saw my first cold case show. I have always loved the work our amazing and loyal team of police officers has done,\u201d eighth grader Cadence Lawrence said. \u201cI am very pleased to say I loved the field trip, it could not have been a better experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students were given a tour of the PD. (Joannie Olson\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Officers guided students through several areas, including the dispatch room, where they demonstrated the difference between emergency and nonemergency calls. A dispatcher answered a staged 911 call placed from inside the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never knew how much our police force does for our town. The experience was very enlightening, and I was so grateful to be able to go,\u201d eighth grader Brecken Arter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really helped me learn about a job that many people in our world have, and how important it is to have people in our world that keep us safe,\u201d eighth grader Kinsley Decker said.<\/p>\n

The tour offered students a close look at the work handled by dispatchers, officers and support staff. Olson noted that one dispatcher is a parent of a classmate, giving students a more personal connection to the visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cCops do a lot for us,\u201d sixth grader Jazmin Campos said. \u201cIt was fun to hang out with friends while doing something important. It was really fun to see behind the scenes at the police station, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A card for officers from a student. (Joannie Olson\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI think it was good that they got to see the faces behind the scenes and they see the seriousness,\u201d Olson said. \u201cWhat would we do if we couldn\u2019t call? I think that\u2019s what they learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club, which draws 25 to 30 participants despite meeting at 7 a.m., takes on service projects throughout the year. Its next project includes a visit to Madison House to play bingo with residents and spend time with older community members.<\/p>\n

Sources of Strength is a national peer\u2011led program focused on suicide prevention for young people by building support through community. The group partners locally with the MCHS Youth Leadership Club and is funded by SCYC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

is part of the middle school\u2019s Sources of Strength club<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,147,155,28,52,60,29,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-cortez-middle-school","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-law-enforcement","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18789,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13052\/revisions\/18789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13052"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}