Dayton Gets Real: High school CTE program helping diversify city’s safety force

DAYTON — The city of Dayton is working to diversify their safety force, and students enrolled in a local high school’s career and technical education program are being prepared to potentially help with that.

The program is open to students in grades 10-12 and is housed at Belmont High School. Students enrolled in get the opportunity to sharpen their skills as they train to become emergency medical technicians and firefighters.

When firefighters first began the program at Belmont two years ago, junior Hayley Howard was decided to enroll after hearing the recruiting pitch.

“I’m so much more excited now because I never realized how much actually went into it, so I never realized firefighters were in charge of so much more than fire,” Howard said.

Howard called the program demanding, but said it was “rewarding in every demand that it gives.”

The program, an extension of the City of Dayton’s Homegrown Heroes initiative, serves a dual purpose, allowing students a path to important careers and giving the city a chance to recruit women and minorities to the safety forces. The goal of the latter is to help the city’s safety forces be more reflective of the city’s population.

Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said she was excited about the “path and potential pipeline” for these certified students.

With the completion of the course, students become certified EMTs upon their high school graduation. An additional six months of training would be needed to become a certified firefighter.

Students who complete the program will be qualified to apply for entry-level positions with the Dayton Fire Department upon graduation.

Cox Media Group