Many high schools/secondary schools require students to fulfill a certain number of community service hours in order to graduate.  Emergency preparedness and/or emergency response team training should be both a requirement and count towards graduation requirements. 

This training not only instills a sense of community and civic mindedness, it fosters a belief in personal responsibility.  This training also exposes students to possible careers as a Firefighter, Paramedic, EMT or other first responder as well as the disaster management field. 

CERT trainers are always glad to see more students complete the training and could be used in the high schools to assist teachers.  Because emergency response team training also has a physical component, it would be a great addition to a physical education curriculum.

This plan has an additional benefit for communities without the resources for bi-lingual CERT training.  It would be an opportunity to use the student as a conduit for vital preparedness information to flow directly into homes with non-English speaking parents/guardians. 

The opportunity to stress the immportance of communications, clarify what the situation will be in a disaster and give the younger generation the chance to become FCC licensed HAM operators is also something we should not pass up!