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CORENEWSLETTER
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Your Direct Line to the School of EMS
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DISPATCH
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Your official dispatch from the School of EMS.
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WELCOME TO THE SOE CORE NEWSLETTER!
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Building the People Who Will Carry EMS Forward
EMS agencies everywhere are balancing the demands of today with the workforce needs of tomorrow. Filling open positions is part of that challenge, but so is preparing the people who are already in our organizations for what comes next. Education plays an important role in that process, whether it's an EMT advancing to AEMT or paramedic, an experienced clinician stepping into an instructor role, or an employee beginning to develop the skills needed for future leadership.
At the School of EMS, we have the opportunity to see that growth happen at every stage. We see students entering EMS for the first time, experienced providers returning to the classroom to advance their certification, departments investing in their employees through sponsored education, and instructors sharing years of field experience with the next generation. Each of those steps contributes to a stronger EMS workforce and helps build the depth organizations need for the future.
In this month's newsletter, we're focusing on Building the Bench and the different ways we can invest in the people who will carry EMS forward. We'll look at developing employees before the need arises, the role today's EMS educator plays in preparing tomorrow's clinicians, updates happening across the School of EMS, upcoming educational opportunities, and new resources we're developing for our employer partners.
Building a strong EMS workforce takes all of us. Educators, employers, clinical partners, medical directors, and students each play a role in preparing the professionals our communities will depend on next. Throughout this issue, we're highlighting some of the ways that work is happening across SOE and alongside the departments we serve.
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WHAT IS CORE?
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Connecting Opportunity through Relationships and Engagement
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CORE is your dedicated sponsor support team at the School of EMS. We're here to ensure clear communication, help you navigate student sponsorship, and keep you connected to the resources that matter most. More initiatives and enhancements are on the way - this is just the beginning.
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CONNECTION
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Where partnership & connections drive student success.
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School of EMS at TEMSA in TX and EMS World in FL!
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Our crew is currently attending TEMSA Evolution 2026 in College Station, Texas, and EMS World Expo 2026 in Orlando, Florida, connecting with EMS professionals, educators, students, and industry leaders from across the country. These events provide an incredible opportunity to share ideas, explore the latest developments in EMS education and patient care, and build meaningful relationships throughout the emergency medical services community. If you're attending either event, be sure to stop by and say hello!
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HEADS-UP
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What's next and when to expect it.
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Upcoming Course Starts
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Looking to get someone started before the end of the year? Here’s a quick look at upcoming SOE courses!
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EMT – November Starts: Andrews, TX • Sioux Falls, SD • Tyler, TX
December Starts: San Antonio, TX • Farmers Branch, TX
?EMT Hybrid: Jacksonville, FL • Palm Harbor, FL
Paramedic – October Starts: Baton Rouge, LA • McKinney, TX • Pearland, TX • Sioux Falls, SD • Tyler, TX • Farmers Branch, TX • Rock Springs, WY • Palm Harbor, FL
November Starts: Bemidji, MN • Corpus Christi, TX • Horizon City, TX • Oklahoma City, OK
?Paramedic Hybrid: Jacksonville, FL • Palm Harbor, FL
December Starts: Seminole, TX • Tyler, TX
Advanced EMT – October & November Starts: Sioux Falls, SD • Tyler, TX
Our 2027 course schedule is being finalized now, with additional dates and locations on the way. Keep checking the School of EMS website for the latest course offerings and updates.
If your organization is interested in sponsoring students or hosting a future course, contact us at info@schoolofems.org to learn how to bring School of EMS training to your area.
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SUCCESS IN ACTION
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Student Spotlight: Garrett Guillot
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He strives to learn, questions what he doesn't understand, and takes constructive criticism to better himself.
Cohort: OCPC-52-EX-U1-P-25
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ADVANCE NOTICE
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Insights and updates to help you stay one step ahead.
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More Tools Are Coming for Our Employer Partners
We know sponsoring a student involves more than getting them enrolled in a course. You need quick access to the right information, clear points of contact, and resources that help you support your employees throughout their education.
We're currently developing a dedicated Employer Sponsor resource page on the School of EMS website.
The goal is simple: create a centralized resource designed specifically for our employer partners, with valuable information, helpful links, and easy access to the resources you need to support your sponsored students.
We're also continuing to improve our sponsor communication, student progress reporting, and the resources available through CORE as we build a stronger support system for the agencies investing in their employees.
We'll let our employer partners know as soon as the new page goes live.
Have something you'd like to see included? We want to hear it. If there's information, a resource, or a link that would make sponsoring an SOE student easier for your organization, let our CORE team know.
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ROUNDS
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SOE Department updates to keep you in the know.
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SUPPORT STATUS | STUDENT SERVICES
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Building a Better Student Experience
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Student Services is preparing for a significant behind-the-scenes change as SOE begins the process of transitioning to a new Student Information System (SIS). While changing a system of this size takes considerable work, the goal is straightforward: create a better experience for our students and give our teams better tools to support them throughout their time with SOE.
The transition will touch many of the processes students encounter from enrollment through completion. Our Student Services team is working closely with departments across the school to prepare for the change while continuing to support our current students. More information will be shared as the transition progresses and as changes begin to affect the student experience.
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EDUCATION BRIEFING | ONLINE EDUCATION
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Updating the Classroom and Opening the Door
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Our Online Education team is currently working on a comprehensive update to the Cardiology content within our Canvas courses. Cardiology remains one of the most important and challenging areas of EMS education, and the team is taking a close look at the content to ensure students have a strong foundation they can carry from the classroom into patient care.
School-wide Open Office Hours are also continuing to gain momentum. Several sessions are scheduled each month, giving students additional opportunities to connect with SOE educators outside of their regular course schedule. Students can use these sessions to ask questions, work through difficult concepts, or simply get additional guidance when they need it. The goal is to make academic support easier to access before a student begins to struggle.
+ Featured Article: “The 2026 Educator” by Dr. Robert Stanley, Director of Academic Affairs, School of EMS
The article focuses on the evolving role of the EMS educator and the importance of creating meaningful learning experiences that go beyond simply teaching textbook material. Dr. Stanley discusses the importance of realistic scenarios, staying relevant with current evidence and industry trends, presenting multiple sides of clinical debates, recognizing when educational material may be inaccurate, and maintaining a genuine enthusiasm for teaching.
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LAB REPORT | LIVE EDUCATION
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Where the Classroom Meets the Call
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It has been a busy season for our Live Education team as students from across SOE continue moving through hands-on labs, skills evaluations, scenarios, and other live components of their programs. These days are where months of online learning begin turning into hands-on decision-making, and our instructors have been hard at work creating opportunities for students to put that knowledge into practice.
Live education is about much more than checking off individual skills. Students have to communicate, prioritize, adapt when a scenario changes, and put multiple pieces of their education together at once. Our Live Education team continues working with students throughout these experiences to help bridge the gap between understanding a concept in Canvas and being able to apply it when a patient is in front of them.
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CLINICAL COMMAND | CLINICAL EDUCATION
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Turning Education Into Experience
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Our Clinical Education team continues to stay busy supporting students as they move through one of the most important phases of their EMS education: applying what they have learned to real patient care.
Behind every completed clinical requirement is a significant amount of coordination. The Clinical team works with students, preceptors, clinical sites, and other SOE departments to help students navigate field and hospital experiences, monitor progression, and work toward the hours, skills, and patient contacts required by their programs.
For students, the clinical phase is where individual lessons begin connecting. Classroom concepts, lab skills, communication, documentation, and clinical judgment all have to come together in an environment that cannot be paused or reset like a scenario. Those experiences are an essential part of preparing students to transition from learning EMS to practicing it.
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DOCTOR'S NOTE
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A message from our medical leaders.
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EMS has always been a profession built heavily on experience, and that experience is incredibly valuable. Experienced clinicians recognize patterns, understand how patients actually present outside of a textbook, and know that a perfectly organized classroom scenario rarely looks the same when you're standing in someone's living room at two o'clock in the morning. Those lessons are an important part of what we pass along to the next generation of EMS professionals.
At the same time, experience comes with a responsibility to remain willing to learn and change. Medicine continues to evolve as new research becomes available and our understanding of patient care improves. Treatments that were once considered standard practice may be questioned, modified, or replaced over time. As educators and clinicians, we have to be willing to evaluate new evidence even when it challenges something we have done successfully for many years.
That is also why educating the next generation requires more than teaching students what to do. We need them to understand why they are doing it. A developing clinician should learn to consider why a treatment is indicated, what evidence supports it, what risks are involved, and what changes in the patient's condition might require a different approach. Protocols provide an important structure, education provides the knowledge behind them, and experience helps providers understand how to apply both to the patient in front of them.
Ultimately, our goal is not simply to produce students who can identify the correct answer on an exam. We want to develop thoughtful clinicians who can assess a patient, understand the reasoning behind their decisions, recognize when something doesn't fit the expected picture, and adapt appropriately. That ability to combine knowledge, evidence, experience, and sound clinical judgment is something we should continue developing throughout an entire EMS career.
School of EMS Associate Medical Directors
Dr. Avery Callahan – Alabama, Louisiana
Dr. Todd Davis – Arizona
Dr. Mickey Deel – Arkansas
Dr. Hasan Rasheed – Florida
Dr. Elliot Ross – Guam
Dr. Matthew Johnston – Illinois
Dr. Matthew Gilbert – Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio
Dr. Damon Darsey – Mississippi, Utah
Dr. Scott Scherr – Nevada
Dr. Barry Smith – New York
Dr. William "Bill" Worden – Oklahoma
Their expertise, leadership, and dedication to the EMS profession are vital to the success of our students and the health of the communities we serve. Please join us in thanking them for their service and commitment.
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CHIEF'S CORNER
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More than education....a message from our CEO.
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"One of the easiest mistakes we can make in EMS is waiting until we have a staffing problem to start thinking about workforce development. By the time the vacancy is posted or the schedule is short, we're already behind. The organizations that handle those transitions best are usually the ones that have been developing their people long before they actually needed someone to step into the next role.
That development can look different for every employee. It may mean giving a strong EMT the opportunity to become an AEMT or paramedic, encouraging an experienced paramedic to become an instructor, or giving someone with leadership potential more responsibility before there's a title attached to it. It can also mean having an honest conversation with an employee who isn't ready yet about what they need to improve to get there. Developing people doesn't mean lowering the bar. It means giving good people the opportunity, resources, and expectations they need to reach it.
I've spent enough years in EMS to know there will always be another vacancy, retirement, promotion, or unexpected change. We can't predict every staffing challenge that's coming, but we can control how prepared our organizations are when it happens. That's why education and professional development can't just be something we think about when we need another certification on the schedule. They have to be part of how we build our organizations for the long term.
Take a look at the people in your organization today. Somewhere in that group may be your next paramedic, instructor, field training officer, supervisor, or chief. The question is whether we're giving them the opportunity to become that person before we need them to be.
That's how you build your bench."
- TC Howard, CEO
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TRANSPORT
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Your newsletter wrap-up from SOE.
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FINAL HANDOFF
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Here's what you need to know before we wrap.
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The Bench Doesn't Build Itself
The future of an EMS organization may already be riding on one of its ambulances. It could be the EMT who has the potential to become a great paramedic, the experienced paramedic who would make an exceptional instructor, or the employee who isn't ready for leadership today but could be with the right opportunities and development over the next few years. Recognizing that potential early gives organizations the opportunity to develop people intentionally instead of waiting until the next vacancy forces the conversation.
Workforce development isn't one class, one certification, or one promotion. It's the ongoing process of giving people opportunities to grow while building the knowledge, experience, and confidence they'll need for whatever comes next. Education is certainly part of that, but so are mentorship, honest feedback, increased responsibility, and leaders who are willing to invest in their people.
At the School of EMS, we're proud to partner with organizations that make that investment in their people.
Our responsibility is to provide the education, support, and partnership that help those employees grow into capable professionals who are prepared to serve their departments and their communities. When we develop stronger providers together, the impact reaches far beyond a classroom or certification. It ultimately reaches the patients who depend on them.
As you look ahead to 2027 and beyond, take a look at the people already in your organization. Your next paramedic, instructor, supervisor, or chief may already be there. The opportunity is to start developing them before you need them.
School of EMS – Where Education Meets Purpose
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Whether you're a prospective student or an organization exploring an employer partnership, we’d love to connect.
Reach out to us anytime at info@schoolofems.org for more details—we’re here to help you take the next step.
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CONTROL PANEL
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Need help with your dashboard, student records, or upcoming classes? Our team is your go-to contact for all things sponsorship and communication.
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School of EMS
115 Jordan Plaza Blvd, Suite 200, Tyler, TX
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