Massachusetts Maritime Academy Cadets Create Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan for Town of Wellfleet

BUZZARDS BAY, WELLFLEET …A team of cadets from an Emergency Management Planning course offered by Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA), a top-ranked public university with undergraduate degree programs focusing on science, engineering, technology, math, and business that blend academics and experiential learning, were recently tasked with the responsibility of fully developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) for the Town of Wellfleet.

The cadets are members of MMA’s Emergency Management Planning program. During their internship with Wellfleet, they were responsible for fully developing the town’s CEMP, a document

that guides county behavior before, during, and after a disaster and defines who does what, when, where, and how in order to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of natural, technological, and human-caused hazards.

Upon its completion, the cadets presented the document to the Wellfleet Board of Selectmen, following which the CEMP received board approval.

Michael P. Hurley, Chief of Police with the Wellfleet Police Department, exclaimed “We did it!” upon receiving the approved and signed copy of the town’s CEMP plan and extended his thanks to the MMA cadets and their advisor responsible for the many hours of work that went into the final product.

“External programs have become the backbone of the Emergency Management major and provide students with real hands-on experience,” said Thomas F. Lennon, Massachusetts Maritime Academy Professor and Emergency Management and Homeland Security Department Chair. “Over the last half-dozen years scores of communities and other support agencies have partnered with our program to complete their CEMP and other state and federal requirements.”

“The cadets responsible for researching and drafting this highly valuable CEMP had the opportunity to experience how local policy is developed, codified, and implemented,” said Rear Admiral Francis X. McDonald, USMS, president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. “Classroom opportunities such as this underscore the work that our faculty and students are doing to support the resiliency of communities throughout the state.”