SAN MARCOS, Texas — There's a new way to get emergency medical training certification in Hays County through a partnership with Texas State University.

"I was absolutely ecstatic, I had to jump for it," David Gibson, a student said. "I grew up with first responders my entire life, been around law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics. My ultimate goal is to be a firefighter and paramedic."

San Marcos Hays County EMS has teamed up with the extended learning office at the university to provide this training course.

"They’ll get experience that they wouldn’t get anywhere else in the healthcare field," EMT Captain Cody Carroll said.

Students are required to attend 144 lecture hours, 48 field internship hours and 24 clinical internship hours.

"We have to have a certain amount of trauma patients, we have to ride on the ambulance, ER hours. We have a very wide variety of clinicals that we have to cover," Gibson said.

With hands-on opportunities, the class will prepare students for many types of careers.

"You can get hired on at hospitals, you can get hired on at EMS services, fire departments, clinics will hire EMTs. There's a multitude of jobs that are available for people with this certification," Carroll said.

That certification comes at the end of the course when students are eligible to sit for the National Registry of EMTs EMT certification exam.

"I'm doing everything I can to make sure I pass, studying as much as I can," Gibson said.

To enroll in the 16 week course, students have to be at least 18 years old with a clear criminal history and required immunizations.