For the first time in its history, the FBI took its Teen Academy program outside the United States, setting up shop on a U.S. military base in Stuttgart, Germany this past September. Twenty teenagers from the American community scattered across southwestern Germany, near the borders of France, Switzerland and Austria, spent the day learning the kinds of skills typically reserved for bureau trainees rather than high schoolers.
According to texasborderbusiness.com, the event unfolded at Stuttgart High School and marked, in the outlet's words, the moment the FBI “took its Teen Academy program out of the country and onto a U.S. military base” for the first time ever. Many of the participating teens have parents who work at one of five U.S. military bases in the Stuttgart area; others have family members stationed there on government assignment, according to the same report.
Fingerprints, Fluorescent Evidence and Hidden Messages
The curriculum read like a crash course in criminal investigation. Students learned to lift fingerprints, use fluorescent techniques to reveal evidence, and search for concealed messages, the outlet reported. The day's activities also included crime-scene searching, surveillance work and arrest tactics, giving the teens a direct feel for the mechanics behind an actual FBI case.
FBI section chief Ruben Marchand-Morales framed the overseas session as a rare opportunity for the students involved. “Our first overseas FBI Teen Academy gave these remarkable students a unique, hands-on opportunity,” he said, per the outlet's report. The bureau has described its broader outreach mission in similar terms, noting that fostering relationships today will help it fulfill its mission tomorrow — a message FBI Kansas City
echoed Friday in a post recapping the Stuttgart program.
A Program With Roots Across FBI Field Offices
Teen Academy isn't unique to Stuttgart or even to this year. The program typically runs out of local FBI field offices, where it gives high school students what the bureau describes as a comprehensive look into the agency's operations, instruction and demonstrations, according to a program listing on snow.day. Course sessions generally run a minimum of eight hours, though some stretch into week-long programs, and listed eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship, current high school enrollment or graduation from an accredited school, and a minimum 3.0 GPA.
Topics covered across Teen Academy programs can range widely, from terrorism and cybercrime to public corruption, polygraph exams, evidence response and SWAT operations, per the same listing. In Atlanta, students from across Georgia got their own firsthand look during the FBI Atlanta Field Office's annual Teen Academy, according to a report from CBS News Atlanta. That session covered intelligence analysis, evidence collection and career opportunities throughout the bureau, capped off with a mock crime-scene investigation.
San Diego runs its own version as well, with the FBI's field office there saying its Teen Academy lets high schoolers develop leadership skills while exploring the world of law enforcement, according to the bureau's community outreach page for that office. Taken together, the Stuttgart program fits into a long-running pattern of FBI field offices using Teen Academy to introduce students to investigative work and potential career paths — just the first time that pattern crossed an ocean to reach teens living on a military post instead of in a stateside school district.
