Canutillo students receive certification in international 911 training

El Paso County Commissioners declared the week ofApril 12-18 Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Commissioners said in the resolution, which was adoptedMonday, that the “unseen first responders” deserve just as much praise as other emergency personnel.

The work they do is something hundreds of students in the Canutillo Independent School District are currently being trained in during school hours.

For the first time in the school district’s history, 16 students in the high school’s career and technical education department earned certification in international 911 telecommunication.

“Now, it makes the job market open to them,” said their instructor, County Constable Angie Sommers. “They’re already ready to apply for positions.”

Senior Vanessa Perez is one of the students who recently received her certification.

“I learned that this is what I want to do,” she told ABC-7. “We’re certified telecommunicators. How many people can say they’re a certified telecommunicator at our age? I just think it’s a blessing to be in a class like this.”

Perez credits Sommers for helping her grow. But Sommers points to the students as the reason the class is so successful.

“When I started here four years ago, we had no textbooks and no lesson plans. And with the help of a lot of students in this room, we built this program,” Sommers said.

Sommers told ABC-7 she is now teaching 400 students a range of skills, from typing to performing CPR, even crime scene analysis.

“My students in crime scene can tell you direction of blood spatter,” she said. “They can look at a bullet casing and tell you the size of bullet and the angle of a shot.”

Sommers also said the Canutillo district invested $40,000 into a 911 call simulator, which the students demonstrated how to use for ABC-7.

“They’ve got a lot of advantage coming out of high school with this, because they already have the basics under their belt,” said Sommers.

To Perez, the class has been more about job training. Looking back, she said she regrets not enjoying the class more during her first two years.

“It shifts you in a direction you say you’re proud of, so you don’t stay in El Paso and do nothing,” said Perez. “You make something of yourself with a program like this.”