High school students can now apply to new Homeland Security Program at AWC

If you're interested in pursuing federal law enforcement as a career, this is for you!

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - High schools students can now enroll in the two-year Homeland Security Program at Arizona Western College (AWC).

The Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma (STEDY) and AWC have partnered to create a Homeland Security Program that is available to preferably high school juniors to gain college credit and learn about a field of study that impacts our local and national communities.

Rusty Tyndell, Director of Strategic Partnerships at STEDY says their main function is to provide career and technical education for students who are still in high school.

"And our goal is for them to finish a two year certificate program while they're still in high school so that when they graduate, they're actually qualified to move into the workforce," says Tyndell.

The best part? The program is at no cost.

"Did I mention it's free to students? That books and tuition are actually paid for? Yeah, we pay for all that, so it doesn't cost them anything. And so all you have to do is contact us," Tyndell adds.

Mark Sims, Professor Homeland Security at AWC and former Border Patrol agent says there is still spots available for the program starting in August.

"The class size is 24 I think and right now we only got ten, so we have 14 or so open and we can maybe make it a little bigger if we get a lot of interest," Sims says.

This program will benefit students who are curious about going into or pursing a career in federal law enforcement.

"It's six classes that run consecutively and it starts with intro to Homeland Security, goes into terrorism, bioterrorism, counterterrorism, cyber terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, emergency management, things like that. All the things that Homeland Security kind of address in its entire function as an organization," Sims explains.

The different fields branched from Homeland Security will all be focused on and demonstrated.

There are 22 agencies that make up Homeland Security, and eight of them are law enforcement agencies.

"They kind of call everything CBP. But then when we get in there, we're like, hey, the CBP's this thing, and then ICE is this thing and TSA is this thing, and FEMA is this thing," says Sims.

Sims says he'll bring in a lot of those agencies so students can have firsthand exposure to them and talk to people who are doing those type of jobs to see if it's something they're really interested in.

"They're hungry for information," Sims mentions.

There are requirements to be met before applying.

"Minimum GPA, good attendance. We want students who are serious about taking a college class. You know, technically, sophomores could could do it, but we like to target juniors so that they can actually finish at the same time that they graduate from high school," Tyndell says.

The students in the program will also receive AWC credit.

"So the whole time they're doing this, they're getting their credit that goes towards their bachelor's degree. By the time they're done, they stay for the two years, we're talking 18 credits," Sims says. "And so that's a good chunk towards your associate's degree, which will help you in combination with any work experience, get some jobs right out of right out of high school, right out of this program."

If you're interested you can apply here.