McALLEN — A recently launched program at McAllen Independent School District is helping dozens of local students master basic life skills.
Created by McAllen ISD Police Chief Jose “Joey” Silva, the Good to Know Initiative kicked off last month with a tire changing demonstration.
Students listened in a district parking lot while officers explained where a car’s jack and lug wrench usually are, showed them how to remove lug nuts and, finally, popped the tire off a black sedan.
“What it is is we’re going out there and showing students certain life skills that can get them through possible mishaps, such as a flat tire,” Silva said in a video of the demonstration released by the district. “As we go on throughout the month we’re going to do more and more.”
This week the district put on its second Good to Know Initiative program: a fire extinguisher training.
Students listened to advice on responding to a fire and then, using a digital fire extinguisher training system, practiced putting out one of their own.
According to Herman Perez, a CTE teacher at Achieve Early College High School, that sort of training gives students a skillset for life and fills in oft overlooked educational gaps.
“Kind of things that we take for granted and assume, ‘Oh, everybody knows how to do it,’ but they don’t always know how,” he said. “Providing the students with this training is going to give them that advantage.”
One of the students brandishing a fake extinguisher at a fake fire this week was Jon Saldana, a senior at Achieve ECHS.
“It was definitely interesting, just learning how to deploy it properly as well as pointing at the base,” he said. “You know, I was sweeping really fast at the start because I didn’t know what to do, that whole adrenaline rush. But then he told me to slow down, keep your cool — which I feel is a very important part when dealing with a fire.”
According to a district spokesperson, Good to Know Initiative lessons will be given monthly to groups of 20-25 high school seniors.
Check out McAllen ISD’s Good to Know Initiative videos below:
