Evant ISD launches high school EMT program for students

Evant ISD opened a high school EMT track this school year, giving students in a district of 197 a direct route toward emergency medical training and a possible future in the ambulances that serve rural Coryell County.

The program is unusual for a district Evant’s size, with only two schools in the 2024-25 Texas Education Agency school report cards. Instead of limiting health science to theory, the new effort places students in a setting that includes ambulances, medical professionals and clinical work, giving them an early look at what emergency medicine demands on the ground.

Riley Stephens, a former teacher and coach who later became a certified EMT, helped bring the idea together. Stephens connected district leaders with Southwest EMS Academy, owned by James Schuetz and Jennifer Schuetz, after learning that Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Ingram was looking for timely, in-demand health science certifications. The academy is providing the curriculum and instructional framework that make the program workable inside a small district.

That structure matters in Evant, where local career options can be limited and schools often carry the burden of workforce development. Ingram, who has worked in Evant ISD since 2017 and became superintendent in September 2022, has pushed the district to make sure students leave with a plan. District materials for 2025-26 list welding, business, real estate, education and health science among the district’s career offerings, with EMT certification now part of that lineup.

The district is also expanding academic preparation. Beginning in 2025-26, all freshmen will take dual-credit Learning Frameworks courses, part of a broader effort to build college and career pathways at the same time. For students who do not plan to go straight to a four-year university, the EMT track offers a credential that can lead to work in a field that is needed now.

Texas rules generally require EMS certification candidates to be at least 18, which makes a high-school EMT pathway especially uncommon. Southwest EMS Academy says its program is approved by the Texas Department of State Health Services, and graduates are eligible to take National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians exams. The academy says training combines online modules, hands-on skill days and clinical rotations.

For Evant and surrounding parts of Central Texas, the program is more than a school offering. It is a local attempt to build the next generation of responders before the next 911 call comes in.