Many students do not know what they are going to do in their future, but senior Malaina Fragnito does. Fragnito is participating in a 916 school class that provides her the opportunity to get her EMT certification in high school.

The purpose of the EMT program is that it encourages students to get their EMT certification during high school. This allows students to apply for a job in EMS ( Emergency Medical Services) right out of high school.

An article from learn.org states that while in the program students go through a training process which includes lessons in CPR, first aid and rescue operations. From there, students will get hands-on experience volunteering at a local EMS service.

Fragnito is part of the Career and Tech Center at Century College, which is part of the 916 school in the East Metro. The Career and Tech Center is aimed towards students who want to go into the workforce right after high school.

“Their purpose is to get you into the workforce, I wanted something a little different and something that I thought would help me more in my life after high school than just a regular class here,” Fragnito said.

Fragnito has always wanted to go into the medical field, she wants to be a Physician Assistant after college. In order to be a Physician Assistant, she needs to have a certain number of patient contacts, which means hands-on experience with a patient. Fragnito figured that if she is an EMT, that will allow her to get the required number of patient contacts.

“I want to be a Physician Assistant after college, and for that, you need a minimum number of patient contacts. I figured if I’m an EMT and go on ambulance runs, I can get contacts through that,” Fragnito said.

Fragnito also gets experience working in EMS services, such as 911 dispatch or ride alongs.

“During the course, our teacher sets up clinicals or ride alongs. There is also a call center where you can go answer the 911 calls and dispatch people,” Fragnito said.

In the class, students learn many different skills to prepare them for their clinicals and certification exam.

“The students start the program with Basic Life Support for Health Care Providers (CPR), the next course is Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) which is an MN State Certification,” Chuck Rude, the instructor of the program said.

One benefit of this class is that it is very hands-on.

“We take notes on safety and diseases and stuff like that, but most of it is hands-on, like preparing you for what you will encounter,” Fragnito said.

One of the reasons that Fragnito is doing this is because she wants to feel a sense of reward, and feel like she has had an impact on peoples live’s.

“I think I will feel some sense of reward or accomplishment because everything that you do in class is one step closer to what you want to do. You get to encounter real people and you’ll have an impact on their life,” Fragnito said.