Why emergency crews were at Wichita’s South High Friday

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Anyone driving by Wichita’s South High School Friday morning may have been concerned that something awful happened. It appeared students had been injured in some kind of crash in the parking lot.

What was happening was CSI (crime scene investigation) Day.

Students in the school’s forensic, fire, law enforcement, emergency medical technician, and journalism programs were dispatched to a mock emergency. Drama students dressed as victims. Auto mechanic and audio/visual program students also took part.

“I love that our high school offers this kind of stuff to get us started early on our career path, especially with me being a senior,” Micahia Ndione, an EMT student, said.

Ndione joined other EMT students, triaging and treating injuries and wheeling patients to ambulances during the exercise.

Representatives from Sedgwick County EMS, Wichita Police Department, Wichita Fire Department, and Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office were also at the school, helping to assist the students.

Robert Dusenbery teaches fire science and EMT at South High School. He said CSI Day is as realistic as they can make it for the students.

“We’re a month away from graduation,” he said. “This is the last chance they’ll have to do something really spectacular. Emergency services folks, professionals, are here today to serve as guides and mentors to walk them through different aspects of a real scene like this.”

Dusenbery said CSI Day is one of the most challenging things the students do during the four-year program.

“There is a technical level where they start getting hands-on. They start learning more of the intricacies,” he said. “Then we have our college classes. In these classes, they’re learning real certification skills. We would like students to have college hours and certifications by the time they graduate.”

If all goes well, the graduating students will be job ready and can enter the workforce or, if they want, they can continue to higher education.

“As I understand it, less than half of the graduates from Wichita actually go on to a four-year university, the traditional route,” Dusenbery said. “That leaves people entering industry or moving on to community college, learning technical skills.”

Because there is a significant demand for workers with technical skills, those classes have become more popular in high school.

“When I went to school 40 years ago, we had woodshop and auto mechanics, and it was kind of basic level stuff,” Dusenberry said. “Well, that’s not the way it is anymore. It’s much more technical than it used to be.”

He said there are two reasons students should consider taking technical classes. First, they may have a glamorized idea of a career because of what they’ve watched on television. He said the courses will teach them what the career is really like.

“It’s better to know it now than to spend a lot of time working towards a job you’re really not going to enjoy,” Dusenberry said.

The other reason to take the classes is to get trained and be ready for the workforce straight out of high school.

Ndione has high hopes for her future.

“If I pass my board’s test, you know, get a job at 18, working a career field that I actually love,” she said.

She said she likes to help people, and CSI Day gave her a chance to get experience working with many patients at once.

“I think it’s really nice that we get to just have this opportunity to be started on our career path really early,” Ndione said. “To be financially stable at 18 is honestly a blessing … It’s real hard to find like really good jobs nowadays, so the fact that our school has helped us is amazing.”