CJPS Seniors had one of their most memorable classes thanks to Vinal Alum Aidan Neely. Aidan reached out to our program and invited the students in for a federally-sponsored Traffic Incident Management course for responders. Students learned all about highway and road safety and how responders can be doing better. The course was a springboard dive into a world that was just eye opening. The statistics on secondary crashes is staggering and the State's DOT Operations Center is specifically designed to make the roadways safer and help clear accidents quicker, reducing injuries/fatalities and improving commerce. Aidan and his team were amazing and the students were happy to see many of the things they have learned such as national incident management and even drones, had practical applications to making the roadways safer. The students were even able to control the traffic cameras around the state and watch the Vice Presidential motorcade live! Excellent few days that now seniors will be able to experience annually!

On Tuesday, 5/10/2022, a large brush fire began in Middletown and by Wednesday morning, the fire had grown to approximately 250 acres. CJPS Juniors grabbed the shop thermal imaging drone, contacted our shop partners, and left for some real-world learning. Students learned about the specialized equipment that wildland firefighters use, forest growth phases, controlled burn techniques, and even methods of division and containment. Students were able to see all of these in action and learn about many new careers available to them when they graduate.

Mr. L led quite a lively mock trial that included several unruly jurors, a witness that "flatlined" mid-testimony, and a ton of laughs. With the Honorable Judge Emma presiding, the case began with opening statements and evidence from a real case the students had to dissect prior while learning courtroom procedure. The prosecution and defense worked diligently and were very impressive. At one point, even the credibility of Mr. Cruickshank was called into question by the defense team (which led to everyone failing the assignment of course ha). Objections were made, witnesses and officers were interviewed; and even the accused took the stand. In the end, the accused was found guilty and a fair sentence was handed down. Without the students' knowledge, the real court came to a similar conclusion and a very similar sentence. Impressive work and lots of laughs!

It was a nice day and we felt like getting out of the classroom so we decided to put the book work on hold for a little bit and get outside. A special thank you to Troop F and our SRO for giving us some practice with speed lasers at the Troop F barracks on I-95. Gave us some practice on our motor vehicle law too!

We are very proud of our students for volunteering to help out at the Iwo Jima Memorial for the Spring clean up of the National Memorial. Students helped place 100 flags to honor those killed from Connecticut, picked up branches, raked leaves, picked up trash, and weeded. Excellent job. See them in action on NBC30, WTNH, & the Middletown Press.

Took a day visiting our friends at the New England Disaster Training Center. Disaster responders train much more than the public realizes and is constantly working to understand how to better respond to horrible incidents to save lives. It is a very cool facility despite the seriousness of it's mission and we got to play a little.

CJPS is incredibly thankful to have Major Holmes of the National Guard as a close shop friend. He recently invited us to observe a full-scale exercise of the team in action at Rentschler Field and then tour their support facility at Camp Hartell. Students were able to see all of the ICS and HAZMAT skills they've learned put to real use. Lots of great questions!

CJPS has yet to compete in SkillsUSA as we still get our feet on the ground. That didn't sit right with Asera, one of our talented freshman. She worked with Ms. Vaughn and decided to enter the Freshman Skills Demonstration portion of the competition. She worked with Mr. Linskey on refining one of the favorite skills she's learned so far (Stop-the-Bleed) and then practiced daily. On the day of the competition, she took home THIRD PLACE!!!! We are so proud of her and love her determination to keep moving forward even if the door isn't open yet!