As spotters stood on both sides of him, 13-year-old Niles Walker slowly tried to fit the far end of a 6-foot wooden plank over an invisible flood and into a notch on the other side of the room.

After 10 frustrating misses, including two close calls, his teammates cheered as Walker fit the plank in its notch.

Finally, he and his 10 teammates could safely cross the flood.

This was just one challenge at the  PLEDGE Leadership Camp, a program run by the Howard County Police Department aimed at students entering county high schools.

Now in its third year, PLEDGE helps rising ninth-graders meet new friends while learning how to take a leadership role in their own lives.

“Not every decision a student makes will be the right one,” said Sgt. Ricky Lee, who works in the program. “But at least they can learn to make their own decisions, rather than follow someone into doing something that could go wrong.”

The program, which is being held at Reservoir High School this week, began in 2007 thanks to a grant from the federal government. At the time, the camp was aimed at gang prevention by working proactively with students, said Sgt. John Paparazzo, who also works with the PLEDGE students.

Another federal grant of $50,000 is funding this year’s camp.

Run entirely by the police department’s 13 school resource officers operating under two sergeants and one lieutenant, students spend a week getting to know each other, as well as the officers at their school.

“This is a time when things are changing for these kids,” Paparazzo said. “They’re meeting new people, being exposed to new things and finding new groups. This way, they know there will be at least one person — an authority at that — that they’ll know at school.”

On  Tuesday, the camp visited Terrapin Adventures at Savage Mill, where campers learned how to better communicate and work with each other in team situations, like the one that Walker found himself in.

“It’s a really good way to get them to bond and come together as a group,” said Ofc. Steve Willingham, the camp’s coordinator. “These challenges are teaching them team-building, trust and confidence at a time when they need it the most.”

In addition to their visit to Terrapin Adventures, the camp also visited the department’s training academy. Later this week, the group also was scheduled to take part in a basketball tournament and hear lectures on Internet safety, gang awareness and alcohol awareness.

“This is also a chance to humanize who we are as police,” Paparazzo said. “Show them we can be their friends and be a resource for them.”

Walker said he joined the camp after hearing about it from a friend.

“My friend was in the camp last year and said it had a lot of interesting things going on,” Walker said. “So I said I’d try it this year and, now that I have, it’s been pretty cool.”

Walker said he enjoyed the chance to get to know other kids entering high school, as well as the chance to reacquaint himself with others.

“I got to see some people I knew in elementary school and that was really cool because it was like a reunion,” he said. “At the same time, they made sure we met new people and got a chance to mix with other personalities.”

Athena Harrington, 14, did not initially like the idea of joining the camp.

“My mom actually made me come,” she said. “But it turned out it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

Harrington said she has enjoyed some of the camp’s activities and liked that, “everyone is my age. There’s no kids that are, like, five years older. I just wish there were a few more girls.”

The camp runs through Friday. A second session will be held in July.

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