Central High School Students Prepare to Care

Thursday, Nov. 10 marked the dedication of the first EMT class to career program at the School of Health, Science and Technology at Central High campus which is a Center of Innovation. The participating students are seniors who demonstrated, while wearing full uniform, the skills they have learned from the program. The program occupies their last class of the day, plus one additional hour after school. When asked if they felt that that extra hour was worth the sacrifice of free time, student Jackie William responded that it was tough as first, “but I realized I needed the skills for my healthcare career.”

And these Seniors are learning the real deal. Upon completion of their studies this Spring, they will be preparing for the national registry exam. “What you thought you know about CPR, you had no idea,” says participant Amber Montgomery. Which is perhaps why the GRPS Superintendent Dr. Bernard Taylor, Life EMS Ambulance President Mike Meijer and Steve Heacock, Sr. VP of community relations for Spectrum Health, spoke words of pride and encouragement to this inaugural class.

“You have a life skill. When you leave here, you have a life beginning,” Taylor said. Meijer expressed the hope that the program would provide help in making the students career-ready and was “proud to know and be affiliated with” the students. The final words from Heacock brought the event full circle when he summarized that “it’s about helping people when they are most in need, and that’s what these students are learning to do.” That is also what Central High School, GRPS and their key partners Life EMS Ambulance and Spectrum Health are accomplishing with the near $4 million in partnerships for this and other programs.