Article Text
West Potomac High School senior Lily plans to enter the emergency communications workforce after graduation, turning skills learned in a 911 Dispatch class into a direct path toward her dream job.
She intends to begin applying for 911 call-taker positions as soon as she turns 18 this summer. Rather than attending college in the fall, Lily said she feels ready to start a stable, fast-paced career without taking on college debt.
Her interest began during the 2024-25 school year, when she enrolled in the year-long 911 Dispatch elective at West Potomac Academy. Open to students in grades 10 through 12, the course introduces emergency telecommunications and the situations call-takers and dispatchers encounter.
Students learn entry-level skills including CPR, preparing them to give clear instructions when a caller needs help resuscitating someone. Those who finish the course earn Certified Emergency Telecommunicator certification through the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.
Lily initially enrolled with few expectations. “I thought, ‘Why not give it a try?’” she said.
Midway through the course, students visited the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications to see dispatch operations firsthand. Lily also joined a sit-along program, shadowing call-takers and dispatchers as they handled live emergencies.
Near the end of the class, she and her classmates participated in a mass-casualty simulation with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, Fairfax County Police, Virginia State Police, and other partners. The exercise placed students in a realistic disaster-response scenario.
The following summer, Lily became one of two Fairfax County Public Schools Academy students accepted for internships with the county’s Department of Public Safety Communications.
“Had it not been for the Academy class, I may have felt pretty overwhelmed walking into that environment,” she said. Instead, the internship confirmed her plans. “I love the fast-paced work, and it is a stable profession.”
Lily now spends every other day assisting her former instructor, Leonel Teller, as a teaching assistant. Teller joked that the class would not run without her.
Her path to West Potomac followed years of moving with her family because of her father’s U.S. Air Force career. Before joining FCPS at Sandburg Middle School in eighth grade, she attended five schools in places ranging from Germany to Colorado.
She discovered West Potomac Academy’s Career and Technical Education courses while planning her junior-year schedule. FCPS offers CTE subjects ranging from accounting and animal science to fashion marketing and culinary arts.
For Lily, the dispatch program offered more than technical preparation. She described the Academy as a supportive community whose teachers are deeply invested in students’ careers.
That support, combined with classroom exercises and real-world experience, has left her confident about entering the workforce immediately after high school.
“College might come later,” Lily said, but starting her career without worrying about college debt has lifted a weight from her shoulders.