 Summer is here and the 12 mini deal just got even hotter. The iPhone 12 mini is now one penny with a two-year contract. Visit an Appalachian Wireless Retail location or go to AppalachianWireless.com to view this amazing deal. We are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. The Floyd County School of Innovation is taking their hands-on learning approach to a new level with the real-life dispatch station and ambulance simulator. So they're going to take the role as a telecommunicator or dispatcher. They'll not just be answering law enforcement calls, they'll be answering calls for fire department and medical calls. The program that we have, it has several different preloaded calls in the program already. They range anywhere from death to burglary calls to fight calls to medical emergency calls to everything in between. Taking on the role of a real public safety telecommunicator, being the first point of contact for anyone who is in a dangerous situation. They'll be answering the phone, they'll be taking the call, they'll be getting the information that they need, they'll be tracking the information, they'll be locating the units to make sure that they're dispatched to the scene. It's some of the most realistic training that I have seen actually, so we're hoping that it will be a huge success. Katie Bailey, the healthcare science teacher at the school, says they will be offering multiple pathways such as pharmacy tech, allied health, and EMT, which will all be using their newest hands-on equipment, an ambulance simulator. I am just so blessed to be able to use this in my classes to simulate real life scenarios. It has a closed caption camera system that we have hooked up, so even if you're actually not in the ambulance, the whole entire class is going to be able to visualize with our camera systems. This simulator puts students in a scenario of being on a real ambulance, complete with sirens, lights, and even voice simulators to give the students the complete experience. Because it's one thing to perform those scenarios in a classroom, but when you have the actual ambulance device, all the equipment available, we are going to be able to do it in a real world scenario. These kids are going to be at such an advantage over kids that have not had this lab experience. Principal Christina Crace is happy that they've been able to acquire this equipment as the school continues to expand, starting last year with 90 students and three teachers, to now doubling that with 180 students and six teachers. So we've expanded. We've taken over as much space as we can in this building. We've got new pathways, agriculture. We've got law enforcement, like you talked about, and the health science, the full pathways. We added these three because there's a need in our area. Obviously with the health science, we need some pharmacy technicians. We need more nurses out in the hospitals, but we definitely need our EMTs. And so we're partnering with local ambulance service and trying to get some kids on site for some internships, some apprenticeships. We've got our law enforcement, which is public safety, as well as corrections, because we have that need again in this area. We want to show these kids that it's not just one set path, that there's so many branches. We want to show them as many branches as we can. Providing opportunities that weren't available to students before. For instance, the pharmacy tech pathway, by the end of your senior year, you will be able to take a certification exam and become a certified pharmacy technician right out of high school. Going into nursing school, these kids are going to be so much more prepared than I ever was. I mean, the opportunities are endless here. The Floyd County School of Innovation will also be hosting an open house this weekend. So Saturday, the 28th, from 5 to 8, we have an open house. We're going to call it our block party because we want to be excited for our kids. We're going to give tours of our building for our new kids, our kids coming back because things have changed since last year. We're going to meet and greet with our teachers. They're going to get to spin the wheel and get into their house because we have a house system going on. They get to come out back here. We have tons of stuff out back out. We want to give everything away, but it's going to be really exciting events. We want to see everybody come out and just see what's going on at our school. We're just excited to get this year going. We can't wait to see our students. We can't wait to show them the cool stuff that we have, you know, the fun stuff, and hopefully we'll have a great school year. Reporting from Mountain Top News, I'm Jeremy Justice.