Government officials celebrated the training of a new batch of junior first responders at the Elena Christian Junior High School on Wednesday.
Twenty-nine seventh- and eighth-grade students graduated from the school’s Teen Citizens Emergency Response Team program and received certificates and government issued ID badges.
The CERT program is a national initiative overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that trains citizens in the basics of disaster response, first aid and search and rescue skills.
Al Javois, deputy director of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency, said the program was expanded to include students in response to the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. The hope was that, in future disasters at schools, students could be their own first responders while professional rescuers were en route.
St. Croix Rescue Chief Gregory Richards told the parents in the audience that his trainers put their students through a rigorous and wide-ranging certification program.
“We covered hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, fires, mudslides, terrorist events –everything that could possibly go wrong in a community – we trained them how to prepare for those events,” he said.
The program included 30 hours of classroom instruction and two days of field exercises.
Students learned how to stop bleeding, to treat shock and to splint fractures. They also learned how to triage patients and direct first responders to the most seriously injured victims.
Thel learned the basics of fire science and were led through fire extinguisher drills in which they had to put out real, controlled fires.
Students also got the chance to do some search and rescue, learning the proper way to extricate training dummies buried under concrete rubble.
Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, a graduate of the adult CERT program, told the students that the experience would train their lives.
He said that when he goes to the beach now, he can’t just relax. He is constantly thinking of safety and watching over the children in the water.
“It will happen to you,” he told them. “It’s not a bad thing; it’s a good thing.”
Javois told them that by completing the training, they had gained a certain level of trust from their families and the community, but warned “with trust comes responsibility.” He encouraged them to live up to that trust in everything they do.
“You are exhibiting what it is to be a young person who accepts responsibility and doesn’t shy away from it,” he said.
The Teen CERT program is only currently offered at two schools on St. Croix, Elena Christian and the Seventh-day Adventist School. Javois said he hoped to expand the program, but it depended on school interest and continued funding from FEMA.
Completing the course were Keshawn Abel, Yirakmeal Henry, Kervin Mathurin, Kristopher Fabio, David Gonzalez Jr., Shawn Abel, Amelia Abel, Jahnyra Donovan, Michelle Goodwin, Kolby Fabio, Monique Mendez, Dahlia Fabio, Josue Bermudez, Jozare Prescotte, Jaheeme Williams, Hohanna Manon, Genesis Matos, Luis Encarnacion, Yaimalis Montes, Jeremy St. Rose, Roserny Jimenez, Shantel Toress, Garvin Goodwin, Nisha Lazare, Riana Walters, Deanna Nicholas, J’Shira McBean, Solly Lantigua and Jamihl Levine.
Levine also received the Teen CERT of the Year award.