Connellsville middle school students explore first-responder careers
Eric Morris
Aden Leapline, a sixth-grade student at Connellsville Area Middle School, practices a head wound bandaging technique on eighth-grade student Brendan Phillips during a future first responders camp at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center.
Ninth-grader Chase Bodenheimer ties a bandage to the head of classmate Lukas Joseph during a wound care exercise in the medical portion of the future first responders camp at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center. Students also participated in activities focused on firefighting and policing.
Connellsville eighth-grade student Connor Fox performs CPR on a dummy during a future first responders camp at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center. Students participated in first aid training and had the opportunity to become CPR certified through the camp upon meeting certain criteria.
A team consisting of (from left) CTC protective services graduate Haylei Mickey, Fayette EMS EMT Austin Shawley, CTC sophomore Katie Wolfe and Brownsville Ambulance Service EMT Bruce Gemas demonstrate to middle school students in the future first responders camp how to stabilize and strap a trauma victim to a stretcher using a camp participant as a model.
Morgann Basinger, a ninth-grade student in the Connellsville Area School District, practices CPR on a dummy during a future first responders camp at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center. Students at the camp learned CPR and first aid techniques while exploring careers in emergency services.
A group of Connellsville Area Middle School students explored careers in emergency services at a three-day camp held at the school district’s Career and Technical Center.
A “Future First Responders” camp, held the third week in June at the CTC, introduced 20 district students to the responsibilities of police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, or EMTs.
“I hope it will inspire one of them to pursue a career in one of these fields. The need around here is dire,” said Ron Barry, camp instructor and instructor of the protective services program at the CTC.
Under Barry’s supervision, the students engaged in hands-on activities such as operating a fire hose, administering CPR and learning to safely handcuff a suspect.
The camp was funded through the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board, which provides grants of up to $5,000 for career exploration camps for middle school students during the summer.
CTC workforce development coordinator Shawna Little said the camp was chosen because all three protective services professions covered at the camp are listed as “high-priority occupations” in Westmoreland and Fayette counties, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry, meaning they are in-demand and are projected to remain so through at least 2024.
“That’s when these middle schoolers are going to be entering the workforce,” said Little. “So we want them to know the types of careers that are available to them locally. Our goal is to expose students to the career paths and educational paths they would need.”
The school’s protective services program provides students with a comprehensive public safety education to prepare them for careers in firefighting and emergency medical response after graduation, said Little.
The school houses its own fire truck, police cruiser, ambulance and training equipment, such as CPR dummies.
“We can run this camp self-sufficiently, which is one of the reasons we felt it was a great fit,” she said.
Students participated in first aid training and had the opportunity to be CPR certified through the camp upon meeting certain criteria. Each student departed with a first-aid kit.
Barry, fire chief of the South Brownsville Volunteer Fire Company and a veteran paramedic with the Brownsville Ambulance Service, called on colleagues to speak to the students about their professions.
Perryopolis police officer Jason Hayes, along with K-9 officer Mako, visited the camp one day. Another day, Barry brought in former students and CTC protective services graduates now employed with local ambulance services to lend their expertise.
“I wouldn’t have gotten my start if it wasn’t for this program,” said Austin Shawley, a 2012 graduate of the CTC who is now in his seventh year as an EMT with Fayette EMS.
Originally interested in law enforcement, Shawley said a ride-along in an ambulance soon after entering the protective services program set him on a different path.
“[After] my first call, I knew what I wanted to do,” Shawley said, adding that he was working full-time for the ambulance service two weeks after graduating high school.
Barry said his goal is to teach students about giving back to their communities.
“There is no more rewarding of a career than that.”