Aldine High Student Awarded Teen CERT Scholarship

May 13, 2013 Leticia Fehling Aldine HS, Frontpage, School News 0

Gailin Tovar, a senior at Aldine High School, was one of four area students to receive a $1,000 Teen CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Scholarship for demonstrating exemplary leadership skills in emergency response. The recipients received the scholarships at a ceremony held at Harris County Department of Education on May 3.

The Harris County Department of Education’s Center for Safe and Secure Schools coordinates the program called Teen CERT, a nationally recognized Harris County Citizens Corps Initiative. The program empowers teens as first responders for community emergencies. The program provides students approximately 30 hours of training in critical disaster training to help them help themselves, their school and their community better prepare for, respond to and recover from all-hazard events. Training covers:

Disaster Preparedness
Fire Safety
Disaster Medical
Light Search & Rescue
Incident Command
Disaster Psychology
Terrorism

Hands-on training emphasizes student safety and how to avoid becoming a victim of a disaster. Team training is extended as students prepare a family disaster plan and kit. Students have the opportunity to provide meaningful volunteer service to the community. Volunteer hours are tracked and verified and certificates of completion are provided so students have the required documentation for college applications. There are also opportunities for students to apply for Teen CERT college scholarships.

Additionally, the program provides:

Instructor Manuals
Student Manuals
Technical Assistance
Team Equipment
Guest Local First-Responder Instructors
Assistance with the experiential learning and final full-scale exercise
Opportunity to compete with other local Teen CERT Teams

Teen CERT curriculum is aligned with TEKS and helps students develop higher-level thinking skills as students work through disaster scenarios through emergency mock drills and exercises. For more information about the Teen CERT program, call Rosie Flores, Teen CERT coordinator, at (713) 696-0770.

Harris County Department of Education’s Center for Safe and Secure Schools understands that each school has unique and ever-evolving needs in the areas of safety and security. It is committed to helping schools assess and address those needs in all four phases of the emergency management cycle: mitigation, prevention, response and recovery.