News

May 28, 2020

In the Midst of a National Crisis, BOCES Students Earn National Emergency Certifications

What better time to learn how to incident command systems then during a national emergency?
That’s exactly what a group of Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School students did – not only learning about how incident command systems (ICS) function, but earning certifications stating they know how to operate with them.
Criminal Justice seniors Christopher Stawarz, Anthony Farone, Justin Fitzpatrick, Joseph DeFibaugh, Brianna Cole and Justin Colucci recently completed ICS 100 training offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), earning certification that is valuable to the students if they pursue careers in emergency medicine, law enforcement, firefighting or other emergency services, said teacher Adrianne Rickson.
ICS 100 introduces the Incident Command System (ICS) and provides the foundation for higher level ICS training, while also explaining the relationship between ICS and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Stawarz attends the BOCES Criminal Justice program from Shenendehowa, while Farone attends from Scotia-Glenville, Fitzpatrick and Joseph DeFibaugh attend from Bethlehem, Cole from Scotia-Glenville and Colucci from Duanesburg.
There are roughly 100 juniors and senior enrolled in the two-year criminal justice program offered by Capital Region BOCES on the Albany and Schoharie campuses. Students in the program learn about the history, theory, practices and recent developments in the field of criminal justice, as well as practice the skills necessary to work as police officers, work in the prison systems or work in a security detail.
The more than 1,000 other Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School students have been learning remotely since in mid-March when the COVID19 pandemic forced schools to close across the United States. Many students are using the remote learning opportunity to further themselves professionally, earning certifications that will advance their careers.