By Alexandra Smirnova

This year, students from the northern Russian city of Petrozavodsk got to attend an American police training academy in Massachusetts thanks to the collaborative efforts of law enforcement agencies.

Eight years ago, the Cadet Corps of Alexander Nevsky was established in Petrozavodsk, the capital of the republic of Karelia, a northern Russian province. The goal of this social and educational institution at the time of founding was to educate boys from large and single-parent families with low income. The cadet corps is a school, where military disciplines are taught alongside general subjects. The students are also divided into combined army, navy, and border guard groups. Significant attention is accorded to patriotic upbringing and physical training. While the school had only 48 cadets when it opened, there are overall 170 students in the corps today, ranging from the fifth to the eleventh grade. 11 -year-old children from all over Karelia come to Petrozavodsk every year to compete for admission to this prestigious institution.

Senator Sergey Katanandov, a member of the Russian Federation Council representing Karelia, was intimately involved in getting the cadet corps organized. He still is the chairman of the corps’ council of trustees. Senator Katanandov was also the one to initiate a program that allowed two cadets from the northern Russian province to participate in a student trooper program of the Massachusetts State Police Academy.

While sitting in front of a television set and watching old reruns of Police Academy movies, two young men from Petrozavodsk Pavel “Pasha” Kuvanin and Mark Romanov could not have thought that they would be facing some of the same challenges as the characters in the movies. Little did they know that they were about to become the lucky participants of the student trooper program at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree. Yet, it was not only luck that made the boys’ participation possible. The boys are both students at the Karelian Cadet Corps of Alexander Nevsky, where a rigorous competition for admission to the American program was held. In order to win in the competition, the cadets had to demonstrate excellent physical skills, proficiency in English, and good discipline. Pavel and Mark won in these qualifying rounds and got to visit the U.S. thanks to the support of Senator Katanandov’s Children of Karelia Charity Fund. The cadets’ stay during the police academy training was paid for by the Massachusetts Police Association and their equipment was provided by the administrators of the New Braintree academy.

The cadets’ first day at the academy was not their first in America. They arrived a week in advance in July 2013 in order to get adjusted to the new language, the climate, and the time difference. They resided in the families of American policemen, where they were immersed in the English language.

“If you take into account the whole trip, the most difficult time was the first day at the academy, when we faced the hardest challenges,” Mark said in an interview. “The selection of the participants was strict and, in my view, nothing like in the movies, where all characters get accepted. I soon realized that simply getting into the program does not equal staying in it. You need to go through some testing.”

At first, it seemed to the cadets that the instructors forgot that they were dealing with teenagers, and not army recruits. The police instructors were brutal, deliberately spreading panic in the room by screaming at students. The trainers impressed upon the participants that this was the only way they were going to be treated throughout the program. The goal behind this coarse treatment was to test the future policemen’s and firefighters’ psychological stability because it is indispensable to their work.

The Russian cadets were some of the youngest participants in the program. While the majority of the participants were ages 16 and 17, Mark was 15, and Pavel turned 15 less than a week before enrolling in the student trooper program.

Something unexpected was also in store for Pavel: during baggage check, a white stuffed toy kitten was found in Pavel’s bag. It was soon discovered that Pavel’s host, one of the instructors at the academy, placed it there as a prank. Pavel later confessed that his heart almost stopped when he saw something white and furry that did not belong on the list of items allowed.

There is a rule in the student trooper program that if a cadet feels the challenges to be too

tough, he is free to leave at any time. All that one has to do is to hang his baseball hat that all student troopers receive at the outset on the cafeteria wall. During the cadets’ one-week program, only one baseball hat appeared on that wall.

Student troopers are not allowed to sleep in. Every morning the cadets were woken up at 5:00 AM. 77 students, 14 of which were girls had to get up immediately, take a shower and leave for breakfast within a fixed period of time. The cadets were surprised to see that the same stringent rules applied to girls as to the male participants.

“We needed to go to the cafeteria in a specific order. We had to take trays with food and lower them on the table at the same time with the last person to reach the table,” Mark recalled. “If we did not manage to do it simultaneously, we had to raise them and lower them all over again until we did it perfectly.” The students were allowed to start their meal only after receiving an order. While eating, they could only look in front of them.

The second day at the academy was dedicated to physical training. Included in the exercises were many team challenges, the goal of which was to draw students together. The students had to go through an assault course, a 10-meter rock climbing wall, and play sumo fights. When the youngest of the participants, Pavel, was paired up with a 17-year-old student from a competing platoon for sumo, he knew that he stood no chance. Although he is the ping pong champion of the corps, he lacked the necessary strength and body weight. During Pasha’s match, students from the opposite platoon were screaming “USA!”, as Pavel’s teammates chanted “Russia!” without hesitation.

The Russian cadets were also surprised that the instructors were doing the exercises along with the teenagers, and not simply giving out orders.

The cadets from Petrozavodsk knew that every American policeman drives a car and that one can get a driver’s license at the age of 16 in the U.S. Since a driver’s license is available in Russia only after the age of 18, Pavel and Mark did not have any driving skills when they came to the academy. Learning to drive a real patrol car was a memorable experience for the boys.

“Of course, we knew where the break and the gas pedals were. We would have struggled more if it hadn’t been for the automatic gear box,” the cadets remembered. “We did have some accidents, though. When the instructor suddenly ordered me to hit the brake pedal, I simultaneously stepped on both pedals and we hit all the red cones! There was a lot of smoke. My platoon received a lecture over my performance,” said Mark.

According to the cadets, classes at the academy were different every day. Among them were criminal law, first aid treatment, and various outdoor training exercises. “Despite the fact that we could speak English fluently, understanding commands in English was difficult. Americans speak fast, and it was often hard for me to make out what they were saying,” Pavel confessed. “In such cases we simply mirrored what the others were doing. Our platoon mates were interested in how people live in Russia. Unfortunately, some believed many stereotypes and thought that Russians are riding bears. We also spoke about hockey a lot. We were asked which team is the most popular in Karelia.”

The fourth day was dedicated to the demonstration of police technical equipment. Police helicopters landed at the academy, various vehicles and K-9 units were presented, and troopers told students about their work. The last days did not have as many challenges, and the instructors became a bit less demanding. Still, the program fulfilled its mission: the boys and girls who enrolled in the student trooper program were now prepared for anything.

The only thing that the Russian cadets were not used to was shaving. They first started shaving at the academy, when the instructor urged them to do so after examination

The Karelian cadets spent a week at the police academy, while real American policemen spend six months there. For the Russian students, having experienced the training requirements firsthand debunked some of their stereotypes about American policemen – that they are fat and incapable of running.

The cadets also noted that there were a lot of women among the instructors at the academy, which would be a rarity in Russia. The cadets were especially impressed that Superintendent Sharon Costine was personally tracking the Russian cadets’ participation in the program.

The Massachusetts academy first welcomed children from Karelia in 2005, when a delegation of children of Russian policemen and firefighters killed in the line of duty came there for a tour. It was then that Marian McGovern, Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police told the coordinator of the “Karelia and Massachusetts to Children” project Skip Bourque about the student trooper program.

Although the cadets had a great deal of positive experiences at the academy, they have not committed to becoming policemen yet. Mark has been dreaming of becoming a seaman since the fifth grade, whereas Pasha still wants to become a military surgeon.

The student trooper program at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree is held every summer. Pasha and Mark from Petrozavodsk became the first foreign students to participate in this program in 27 years.

With Mark’s and Pavel’s successful participation in the program, the police academy instructors are eager to welcome new guests from Karelia next year, if only to test their psychological resilience. Also, the delegation of Massachusetts policemen is planning to visit Russia this year.

When the cadets returned to Russia, they were awarded medals for their successful completion of training and given shoulder stripes of non-commissioned officers from Senator Katanandov.