The flashing patrol car lights, students dressed in law enforcement uniforms and fake crime scenes are all part of a normal day in Mr. Kennedy’s law classes as they prepare for the workforce and competitions.
On Friday, February 9, 2024, the law enforcement class went to a SkillsUSA competition in Beaumont, Texas. In this competition, students have different categories and one includes the crime scene investigation.
“We competed in four events though there are so many more. Felony Vehicle Stop, in which we took gold and silver, Building Search, Extemporaneous Speech, and Crime Scene Investigation, in which we took gold,” Kennedy said.
Students describe these event scenarios to imitate real-life processes. They also closely imitate the way they are practiced in law enforcement classes.
“Our event was Crime Scene Investigation,” junior Kaden Hunter said. “We get a scenario from the judges and then must accurately process the crime scene. This includes creating a scaled sketch of the scene, photographing the scene and all of the evidence, collecting all of the evidence and making a report of our process.“
The teacher of the law enforcement class and leader of the cadets say that the class activities had a large part in preparing the students for the competition. They had resources, such as the patrol car, that allowed them to be trained in real-life scenarios.
“The majority of the preparation was co-curricular, but we also spent a large number of hours after school practicing,” Kennedy said. “With the help of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Rand Henderson, we have a patrol car that we get to use on campus here and the campus deputies support us in our training.”
Law enforcement students also say that they studied outside of school with friends to combat their anxiety surrounding the competition.
“We practiced in class, and we studied after school and were nervous because we only had about two months to prepare,” senior Monique Contreras said. “We weren’t in skills at first. We joined late.”
The students say they pushed through the stress as they faced struggles, but it paid off with their first-place win. The students say they learn ed a motivating lesson from this competition.
“The competition day was very stressful because we went last, but seeing our name under first place was a very big relief to know that all of our hard work was worth it,” Hunter said. “This competition helped me realize that we can do anything we set our minds to.”
Because they competed last, students say that they began to lose confidence; however, the students used this to their advantage as they had more time to prepare for their competition.
“There was only one room for crime scene investigation, so we had to wait five hours to get into our crime scenes, and we were the last team to go,” junior Amy Garcia said. “We would get nervous waiting for them to call us because the more teams went, the more nervous we got. We were nervous when we went in, but we realized that going last actually allowed us to prepare more.”
Regardless of winning or not, Mr. Kennedy says he is proud of all the cadets who pushed through, prepared, and competed. He says that by competing in the SkillsUSA competition students brought recognition to the district and the school.
“I am proud of all the competitors,” Kennedy said. “Even those who didn’t place themselves out there and can hold their heads high because they did more than anyone who might criticize them did. The cadets that competed represented Willis ISD and Willis High School with distinction and honor.”
