https://www.calcadet.com/schedule daily 0.75 2025-11-23 https://www.calcadet.com/home daily 1.0 2023-05-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/1586114963168-9H6Z5SDU8DS5CFFBN1HN/cca-patch-v4.png Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/a406f756-367f-4c72-9e39-516f3af69730/CCA+2011+NNO+329.jpg Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/1587178407333-6BX6AO0GB3ACHO3VP8O3/IMG_0888.JPG Home https://www.calcadet.com/news-article-2 daily 0.75 2020-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/1586229129070-GFZXD1MFAQFPC9T8J11W/101_2404.jpg Search and Rescue - Rescuers find autistic boy ©St. Helena Star By Jesse Duarte STAFF WRITER Thursday, July 26, 2007 12:15 AM PDT A 17-year-old autistic boy was found unharmed at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning 11 hours after being reported missing from his grandfather’s home at Stonebridge Apartments. Police, fire and rescue units from throughout the North Bay mounted a massive all-night search Tuesday night. The boy was located near White Sulphur Springs Avenue. The boy was reported missing at 6:45, about 45 minutes after he had last been seen at Stonebridge. A passerby reported seeing him walking the Sulphur Creek riverbed at 6:15, said St. Helena Police Sgt. Chris Hartley. During Tuesday night’s city council meeting, City Manager Bert Johansson told television viewers to be on the lookout for a Hispanic boy with a yellow shirt and brown shorts. He instructed anyone who sighted the boy to contact the police department instead of approaching him and possibly frightening him. As of 4 a.m., the police department had investigated about a dozen calls from residents claiming to have seen the boy, Hartley said. The calls seemed to indicate that he was traveling southwest along Sulphur Creek, sometimes running away from people who spotted him. According to scanner reports, the boy initially tried to run away from the search party that found him near White Sulphur Springs Avenue. But he was safely apprehended just before 6 a.m. "Right now we’ve got him wrapped up in blankets and we’re just looking for the search party that found him,” said Cpl. Ramon Jovel minutes after the boy had been found. The boy was in good physical condition when he was found, said the fire department’s Gail Sharpsteen. As a precaution, he was transported to St. Helena Hospital with his mother at 7:30 a.m. At any given time, between 50 and 130 people were participating in the search, including rescuers on all-terrain vehicles and four or five K-9 units, said Hartley, who headed the 11-hour search from a makeshift command center at the Napa Valley College upper valley campus. Two helicopters, operated by the California Highway Patrol and Napa County Sheriff’s Department, patrolled the area from 7 p.m. to midnight. Knowing that the boy was drawn to water, they concentrated their search on the Napa River and Sulphur Creek riverbeds. The search parties were made up of members of the St. Helena police and fire departments, Napa County Sheriff’s Department, Napa Fire Department, Calistoga Police Department, and the Napa CHP, as well as search and rescue teams from Contra Costa, Sonoma and Marin counties and the California Cadet Academy. Members of the St. Helena Police Department, Angwin Fire Department and Deer Park Police Department helped searched Deer Park and Angwin. The last comparable mobilization in St. Helena was about three years ago when an elderly woman vanished and, like the Deer Park boy, turned up near White Sulphur Springs Avenue. Sonoma Search and Rescuer Steve Ellis joined the search at 1 a.m., and was delighted to hear the mission had been successful. “It always feels good to go home after you’ve found somebody,” Ellis said an hour after the boy was found. https://www.calcadet.com/news-article-1 daily 0.75 2020-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/1586365358120-5E64GBQYL08MMTQLP0RE/DSCF0355.jpg Call for rescue workers - Code 3: California Cadets respond to the call for emergency workers ©American Canyon Eagle By Michael Waterson News Editor Tuesday, July 31, 2007 When my wife crashed the car on a back road in Angwin she was drunk. I was just an innocent passenger. That’s what I’m going to tell the paramedics, anyway, if they ever arrive. I’m standing outside the car, unhurt, waiting for help to arrive and planning my story. A couple of farmworkers in a runabout found us five minutes ago. One of them went back to farmhouse to call in the accident. I couldn’t call for help since I was out of cell phone range. In the meantime Autumn, my wife, is slumped over the wheel, injured and moaning in pain. When the ambulance finally does come, Autumn tells them that I caused the crash by jerking the wheel and punching her during an argument while she drove. I deny her accusations and tell the cops she is drunk and lying. They don’t buy it and put me in the back of the patrol car as the paramedics lift Autumn into the back of the ambulance. That sounds like a pretty good news story. I can see the headline in The Eagle: “Editor detained in car crash, wife hospitalized.” The thing is, none of it is true. Well, except for the location and being out of cell phone range. Before sending flowers to the hospital or raising bail for this journalist, you should know that the above events were just a training scenario played out Thursday by the California Cadet Academy. Autumn is not my wife, but Autumn Cofer, a board member of the academy. There to cover the story of the cadets’ training, I became part of that training. Autumn and I had been given our respective roles and stories while different cadets were assigned to play farmworkers, police and paramedics. It was all a simulation of the type of event that emergency personnel face time and again. Founded by American Canyon police officer, Tony Heuschel, and his wife Nicole, the academy is designed to give teens interested in public service a chance for a “day-in-the-life” experience of a firefighter, police officer and paramedic. Interested kid ages 13 to 18 get preparatory training for the Police Cadets and Fire Explorer programs. The school’s motto is “Experience today the careers of tomorrow.” In its second year, the school is a nonprofit, all-volunteer effort. For a $400 fee, the youngsters spend a week in the training on the Pacific Union College campus, the four-year liberal arts college in Angwin. The fee includes room and board. This year the kids got a chance to experience the real thing. “They helped out with the search for the missing St. Helena autistic boy Tuesday night,” searching creek beds,” said Heuschel. The boy was known to be attracted to water. “We try to simulate real life (in the training); this time they were part of a real search.” A passerby spotted the 17-year old runaway early Wednesday morning. For their efforts, the cadets received a thank-you visit from Patrol Lt. Erik Erickson of the Napa Sheriff’s Department. Teens are drawn to the program for different reasons. “I wanted a taste of military training,” said Matthew Young. The cadets follow paramilitary protocol with a high level of discipline including learning to march, military courtesy and even right down to tight corners on their blankets and bed sheets. Each dorm room undergoes a military style inspection. Young, an AmCan resident and senior at Vintage High, said he plans to join the Army after graduation. “Being a cop,” said Michael Nalevanko when asked what his reason was for enrolling. Nalevanko, 16 and also from American Canyon, is a junior at Vintage. In addition to field exercises like the car crash, the kids get some physical training and classroom lectures. They also get some input from those working in the respective fields. Immediately before the crash exercise the dozen or so young men in the session were out on the tarmac at Virgil O. Parrett Field, the Angwin airport, for the landing of a CHP helicopter. Once the blades stopped turning, Pilot Lannis Pope and Flight Officer Scott Nunes, emerged and spent more than an hour explaining the parts of the whirlybird, their duties and challenges, and how they got their current positions. They answered questions about their jobs, flying and the CHP in general. Not only do the cadets get the benefit of professionals in fire, law enforcement and EMT, they also get instruction from the director of the Graduate Program of Criminal Justice of Villanova University. But it’s not exactly the kind of instruction you might expect. “I teach them bed-making, how to spit shine their shoes and professional courtesy,” said Stanley Jacobs. Those are not the kind of lessons you expect from a professor of criminal justice, but Jacobs, who happens to be Tony Heuschel’s stepfather, was also a Marine for six years. “I also try to get them thinking about the future and the need for goals,” said Jacobs, who has a doctorate in psychology. The debriefing after the crash exercise lasted until after 9:00 p.m. but darkness wasn’t going to stop the training. “I’m going to keep them going until about midnight,” said Heuschel. He noted that at that point in the week the kids were pretty tired. Heuschel is nearing the end of his second week of instruction; the academy offered two sessions this year. No doubt Saturday’s graduation ceremony gave everyone a lift. https://www.calcadet.com/news-article-3 daily 0.75 2020-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/1586364147486-2VAPX8HYRK2ERLS40VNQ/101_2407.jpg Careers in public safety - California Cadet Academy introduces teens to careers in public safety ©American Canyon Eagle By MICHAEL WATERSON Eagle Editor Tuesday, June 5, 2007 12:08 AM PDT The Fourth of July and fireworks, baseball and hot dogs, picnics and the beach are all are typical summer tandems. One more usual summer pairing, perhaps the most common, is teenagers and boredom. If you're looking for something productive and educational for your bored teenager to do this summer, Tony Heuschel's California Cadet Academy offers an alternative to the standard swimming, hiking and volleyball of a traditional summer camp. Two years ago Heuschel, an American Canyon police officer, and his wife, Nicole, began offering a program that teaches kids some of the basics of a career in public safety. Their program, the California Cadet Academy is a non-profit residential summer camp for high-school aged students. Kids aged 13 to 18 who are interested in becoming police officers, firefighters or emergency medical technicians receive preparatory training to become Police Cadets and Fire Explorers. The camp is not a substitute for those programs. The students who attend the academy are exposed to law enforcement training, fire science, basic first aid and receive a CPR certificate. “Our goal is to expose kids to higher education while grooming them for a life of public service,” said Heuschel in an email. Heuschel is a five-year veteran of law enforcement. He acts as chief financial officer for the academy as well as instructing classes and overseeing operations during the actual camp sessions. His wife is the school’s president. The academy is a paramilitary environment with a high level of discipline. Cadets wear uniforms, follow a strict code of conduct and become part of a team. The cadets participate in interactive scenarios that allow them to safely experience what firefighters, cops and emergency medical techs do on a daily basis. The academy uses the facilities of Pacific Union College, a four-year liberal arts school in Angwin. Kids stay in the dorms and eat in the cafeteria Heuschel said. “The college campus is an ideal environment for the cadets to experience what college life is all about,” he said. Matthew Garcia is the Director of Public Safety for Pacific Union College as well as being involved with the county fire department. He coordinates the fire component of the cadet program as well as overseeing campus security during the camps. He explained that if kids like the experience there’s a couple of ways to go. “I encourage them to get involved with a Fire Explorer program if one is available, or if they want a more formal career setting to go to a school that offers such studies. Pacific Union College offers an Associate of Science in Emergency Services. We’re also looking to expand it into a four-year Bachelor of Science degree.” The students’ time at the camp includes physical training, classroom lectures and field exercises (See accompanying side bar). The majority of the demonstrations and scenarios are held outdoors on over 1800 acres of open space, hills and trails that belong to the college. Each day begins with about an hour physical training. “Push-ups, sit-ups, running … working on core body strength,” said Heuschel. He said that the exercise was intended to give the students a taste of what cadet training would involve. They don’t get too intense on the exercise. “A week isn’t time to get them into shape,” Heuschel said. The academy instructors are currently employed police officers, deputy sheriffs, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, nurses and firefighters who are dedicated to mentoring the cadets and guiding them towards a successful future. Cadets experience a range of practical exercises, but the academy is limited as to what types of activities can be presented due to safety restrictions. Firearms training and defensive tactics are not offered and, due to concerns for safety and the environment, controlled burns (actual fires) will not be conducted. American Canyon Police Chief Brian Banducci said he is looking for kids in the 16- 20-year-old age bracket that are interested in public safety. Banducci said he was considering ways that teens could volunteer to come in and spend time in the station and ride along on patrols. Ultimately, Banducci said, that could evolve into an adjunct to the cadet camp “I don’t know what the interest is at this point, but maybe we could support them (teens) or sponsor them in the (Heuschels’) program.” Two cadet camps are offered, each a week in duration. The cost to enroll is $400.00 and includes room and board, meals and most of the uniform. But that only pays a fraction of the real cost. “The actual cost is about $1,400 per person,” said Heuschel. “We wanted to keep the cost affordable for everyone.” The balance of funding for the program comes from donations Heuschel said. The main goal, Heuschel said, is to serve the public. The academy literature says, “ ... the mission of the academy to teach the cadet to be compassionate to the community that they live in or serve.” For more information call the academy at 707 864-6700 or visit the school’s website at www.calcadet.com. Student schedule for the California Cadets Academy: Monday Registration / Orientation Review Policy and Procedures Assign Equipment / Vehicles Drill and Ceremony Tuesday Physical Training Driver Training Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Traffic Control Emergency Vehicle - Operations Course (EVOC) Wednesday Physical Training Police Procedures Criminal Law Officer Safety Thursday Physical Training Fire Science Basic First Aid/CPR Final Scenario Friday Search and Rescue Complete Final Scenario Equipment Maintenance Saturday Drill and Ceremony Graduation Ceremony https://www.calcadet.com/enroll daily 0.75 2025-11-23 https://www.calcadet.com/location daily 0.75 2024-02-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8a2c86edf9386b7757db49/db47bab0-3b5e-4d74-abb9-62bfd6cf0bb1/CSU_Maritime_Academy_seal.svg.png https://www.calcadet.com/overview daily 0.75 2024-02-01 https://www.calcadet.com/parents-corner daily 0.75 2025-02-26 https://www.calcadet.com/our-team daily 0.75 2025-02-26 https://www.calcadet.com/mission-statement daily 0.75 2024-11-08 https://www.calcadet.com/cca-in-action daily 0.75 2023-05-24 https://www.calcadet.com/pdfs daily 0.75 2020-04-25 https://www.calcadet.com/donate daily 0.75 2022-09-25