Some students could end up helping you if you ever get lost in the woods. On Thursday, high school juniors and seniors in the Syracuse City School District went on a search-and-rescue field trip. They spent the day at a corn maze conducting a simulated search-and-rescue experience.

“OK, we’re heading to the crime scene right now,” one student said.

“We have five groups of students. We have geospatial intelligence. We have our RPAs, which is remote pilot aircraft systems. We have EMS, emergency medical services, fire rescue and we have law enforcement and crime scene investigations,” said Allan Rouse, geospatial intelligence instructor at Public Service Leadership Academy (PSLA) at Fowler. 

All of the students are enrolled in career and technical education programs at PSLA at Fowler, a high school in Syracuse. The goal is to allow them to use the skills they’ve learned by replicating a scenario they may face in their careers.

“We want the students to get first-hand, real-life field experience before they go graduate high school and go on in their future endeavors in these CTE programs at PSLA,” Rouse said. 

A Spectrum News 1 reporter on Thursday was able to follow a group as they looked for the crime scene.

“We have to take a picture of the whole crime scene first," a student said. "Everybody back off, give her some space. Right now, we're going to be securing the gun, firearm safely. So first thing, usually you would have the indents in the boxes. But since we don't another way is to poke holes.”   

Part of the group was Firyal Abbas, a geospatial intelligence student.

“We’re expected to help drone tech go in and pinpoint the maze to help fire rescue eventually find the suspect and the body,” Abbas said.   

So she was alongside the crime investigation team, pinpointing where the crime scene was. It was a vital role.   

“It’s a maze, so no one really knows where the end starts, so everyone’s going there blindfolded, and they’re depending on geospatial and drone tech to lead them," Abbas said. "We’re a priority right now because no one really knows where the suspect is.”

Mission accomplished. And inching closer toward a successful career.

“We feel that this is going to be the first step of them becoming professionally sound in their career field,” Rouse concluded.