Program offers Phoenix-area students a taste of life in public safety careers

PHOENIX — A powerful monsoon storm has just hit, knocking down trees and causing damage to buildings — that was the scenario Phoenix Fire Captain Keith Rogers presented to students attending a summer program.

“You’re going to have to get out there and search the area,” he said. “There may be some people out there who need your help.”

The students then went out in teams and found a dummy lying underneath a pile of rubble and had to figure out how to help.

That was just one of the exercises that students attending the Public Safety Summer Academies got to experience on Wednesday.

For three weeks, students got an inside look at careers in public safety and participate in hands-on trainings.

They get to learn from first responders from various agencies, including Phoenix and Glendale fire departments, the Department of Public Safety, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Phoenix Police Department.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for them to find out what they want to do in life,” Rogers said, adding that he did a cadet program as a teen.

“That helped me steer and know that’s what I wanted to do – to be a firefighter.”

Friendly House, a nonprofit that helps at-risk youth graduate high school and obtain jobs, created the program two years ago after getting a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Victoria Anchondo, 16, was one of the more than 120 students participating in the Public Safety Summer Academies, which was in its second week.

She said getting to learn from firefighters and police officers has been her favorite part.

“We get one-on-one time with them, and that’s really cool,” she said.

She added the experience has sparked her interest in pursuing a career in law enforcement or life as a firefighter.

Mariana Torres, lead case manager for Friendly House’s Pathways to Justice Careers, said throughout the three weeks, students get paid minimum wage and accumulate about 80 hours.

“It was very important for us to pay them because a lot of our students come from underprivileged homes,” she said. “This is money that’s going to help them with getting back to school.”

Torres said the best part is students get to explore if a career in public safety is something they want to do.

“These are valuable careers that many of these students don’t think they can get into,” she said. “It’s important for us to show them, ‘If you do what you need to do, this can be one of your careers.’”

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