Upper-secondary … and then what? The HF-department at Grenaa Gymnasium focuses on medium-length education programs.
At Grenaa Gymnasium, the so-called “career learning” is systematized in the HF programme. HF leader Jesper Dau Simonsen explains that the program culminates with all the year’s upcoming HF graduates spending two days in an internship at a workplace at the end of April.
“Since the HF programme prepares students for a medium-length higher education, they have visited educational institutions VIA and Dania in Randers before the internship, where they gain insight into education within health, business, and technology. They also visit a folk high school, and since last year, they have had the opportunity to choose a two-day internship at the police academy in Vejle”, says Jesper Dau Simonsen.
“I think I want to be a teacher, but the police is also an option, so I took the offer”, says Niklas Buhr Kjær. He will graduate as an HF student this summer along with Emil Fredenslund Møller and Tilde Ejberg Hougaard.
The three HF students explain that during the two days, they gained a good insight into what police education requires and entails.
Many Can Find Their Place in the Police
“They also emphasized that many different types of people can fit into the police because there are so many different departments”, says Tilde. She and Emil agree that the IT investigation department was the most exciting. “It was a seasoned police officer who showed us around the school on the second day, and he told us that he has helped solve both murders and arson by using the digital traces left by the perpetrators”, says Emil. Niklas preferred the dog handler department, where they participated in the training of police dogs. – “However, we were not allowed to try being the “criminal” that the dog had to bite”, he says. T
he police academy in Vejle is new, and it has a whole mini-city where the police students can practice, for example, subduing a resistant arrestee, handling angry demonstrators, or making relevant observations at crime scenes. “They hire actors to, for example, throw “stones.” We saw that while we were there,” Emil explains.
It requires both physical and mental strength to be in the police, so Niklas, Emil, and Tilde also tried their hand at both the physical and mental entrance exams. “The warm-up was the hardest,” says Niklas. “I think we just barely passed.” The mental part of the “entrance exam” consisted of teamwork exercises on a series of cases. “They are meant to reveal if you have empathy, can make decisions, and the like,” explains Emil.
On the Way to a Decision
For all three, the conclusion after the two days in Vejle is that police education is definitely an option. “I am considering taking the two-year police cadet education before starting law school,” says Tilde. That way, it will be easier to apply to the police academy if law doesn’t suit me.”
Emil says he wants to train in the military. “But if that doesn’t work out, the police academy is a good alternative,” he says. If you are interested in having an HF student for a two-day internship, you are welcome to contact Grenaa Gymnasium.
