Keosha Denton took a deep breath, jerked on fire-resistant gloves and clapped her hands.
The 16-year-old was decked out head-to-toe Thursday in four layers of firefighting gear, and in just 39 seconds, she'd broken the class record for fastest "donning" at the Metropolitan Career Technical Center's emergency medical services class. The class was the first of its kind in Arkansas when it began in 2012 and, seven years after its inception, instructor Teresa Harper said the program is still opening doors for students and filling a gap in the community.
"What makes this program awesome is if they want to become an EMT, that's great, but it also opens the door to 26 other careers for these kids," Harper said. "And we are critically short on police officers, firefighters, doctors, EMTs and nurses, so this is really excellent for the community as well as for the kids."