COLUMBIA, S.C. — The FBI's Columbia field office is giving students a chance to go inside and explore it’s inner-workings through a teen program in July.
It's called the FBI Teen Academy, and the application period opened this weekend.
"Unfortunately COVID slowed things down the past couple of years and the last one we had was in 2019, so we’re very excited to get going again," said Kevin Wheeler, FBI Columbia public information officer.
There are a few requirements to qualify. To apply, you must be:
- A US citizen;
- A South Carolina resident;
- Between 15 and 18 years old;
- In school; and
- Have at least a 2.5 GPA
You have to submit an application before April 22, 2022 with a 500-word essay.
"I know there’s a lot of falsehoods about what we do. A lot of people don’t know what we do, and they may see some things on TV or TV shows, so we’re hoping to give them a close up look as to how we operate, the things that we investigate, give them some hands-on opportunities and to see some demonstrations and hear some presentations from our personnel here at the FBI," Wheeler said.
Participants will get to learn about cybercrime, fingerprinting, polygraphs and day-to-day FBI operations, among other things.
Locals like Tracey Heller say they wish they had known about this program sooner. Tracey’s son wants to learn about the FBI but is in college, so he's too old for the program. Now, he'll have to pursue an FBI internship instead of the teen academy.
"I think that the city and our society needs more positive programs, especially with community outreach that’s similar to this one, and I just think that these programs foster positive relationships between law enforcement and society, especially our youth," Columbia resident Nicholaus Outen said. "And this could give a lot of the at-risk teens an opportunity to explore other career paths."
You can find out more about the program and how to apply here.