Teen SERT
Karen Hauca
CERT Instructor Trainer
TeenSERT Instructor
Arizona State Citizen Corps – CERT POC
520-468-5021
Email: TeenSERT2@yahoo.com
Alternate email: KLHEmtFF@aol.com
Snail Mail Address:
PO Box 9173
Tucson, AZ 85738
Tim Crabtree is a 20-year-old who had to make three attempts to get into a preparedness class that would accept him. This came to be at Pueblo West High School with Haley Rich.
For his entire life, Tim has been confined to a wheelchair that he controls with a joy stick. His passion is to go on and be on numerous boards for the disabled, and he hopes to spread the benefits of CERT as a profession by instructing everyone and all that is willing to learn that CERT is the program.
On February 16, 2005, Tim received an Outstanding Leadership Award from the Department of Homeland Security and became an honorary member of Los Angeles CERT at an event at Pueblo West High School.
My name is Kayla DiLuzio and I am a junior at Pueblo West High School in Pueblo West, CO. Last year, I participated in Teen SERT and took on the role of Incident Commander. I am writing to you today to explain my experiences with this excellent program!
Being involved in this program dramatically opened my eyes to the real world and the real situations. Prior to this program I didn’t have any knowledge about CPR, or what actions to take in an emergency situation. After this program, I knew that I could be an effective leader when the time came to do so. As the Incident Commander for the mass casualty incident, I noticed that everyone was working together. Each student treated the incident as if it were a real-life situation. This type of exercise made students realize the help they can give to someone else and the community.
The education and knowledge that students receive from this program is phenomenal. If every teenager in the nation were trained in Teen SERT, they would leave the class knowing that they could make a difference. You always hear teenagers complaining because they feel helpless, but after this program the word “helpless” no longer exists. This type of training is not too much of a responsibility. It is a challenge. And you well know, that if you challenge a teenager, they will more than likely succeed! Every teenager can make a difference in someone’s life; all you have to do is give them the opportunity! Bringing Teen SERT into your school is the best thing you can do for your community. It saves lives!
Sincerely,
Kayla DiLuzio
The Teen SERT program is an in-class, curriculum-based program that provides students with a knowledge base on the effects of natural and human-caused disasters and their emotional, social, and economic impacts. It builds decision-making and problem solving skills and strategies to help students make informed decisions regarding readiness, response and recovery and mitigation efforts to reduce loss of life and property.
Teen SERT is a model for other schools around the nation. Pueblo West High School in Colorado was the pilot school (in November 2003) for the nation and now it is a required section of the six Health Classes with 180 students completing it each semester. The popularity of Teen SERT has also grown into an advanced Teen SERT course that will be piloted next semester to students who want more information and education about the first response field.
Schools across the nation are adopting Teen SERT. The Teen SERT model has proven to be fundable with Gilmer High School’s (Ellijay, Georgia) successful award and implementation. The school simply changed the names out on the grant and adjusted the budget to reflect the local needs of the applying school.
The schedule for Teen SERT is nine weeks, one hour per day. The task list associated with the schedule outlays what actions need to be taken in a timeframe conducive to the program’s implementation. The lessons learned are actually additional guidance to support implementation and the students’ survey results prove the program’s success and understanding from the students’ perspectives.
The curriculum and presentation are based on the national CERT program (Community Emergency Response Team) with adjustments made to reflect the focus on self, family and school. The team portion of the curriculum was removed to allow the individual school to determine if they want to incorporate the program as a team or simply for individual student’s education.
Get the Teen SERT brochure.