On Sept. 9, 120 high school students in New York City will begin a unique academic adventure that teaches them the skills and knowledge they need to be in emergency management.
You read that right: high school.
Frankly, I would be shocked if 20 percent of high school guidance counselors in the country knew that emergency management was a potential profession and here is an entire school dedicated to developing EM leaders!
What great news this is for the emergency management community.
I was fascinated reading about this new school in Emergency Management magazine. According to the article, students will undergo a more rigorous school day and are required to have an internship, do volunteer work, connect with people in the profession and complete certifications. However, the teachers do not have emergency management backgrounds and instead will rely on those in the industry to help determine what skills and knowledge these students should have.
“It’s our partners’ job to come in and see places where they can integrate into every core class — English, science, math, history — places where you can insert this emergency management lens that we’re trying to use to teach our students the core curriculum,” said Liz Oliver, the school’s partnership coordinator, in the article.
I’m guessing that many of you in the emergency management community also find this article interesting and consider it a great step towards truly professionalizing the industry.
I’m curious, though, how would a high school like this have influenced your career path? What other benefits are there of educating emergency managers at such a young and impressionable age?
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