The FBI’s third annual teen academy, held Tuesday at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) in Clarksburg, saw over 80 students from 30 area high schools, including eight from Monongalia County’s Morgantown and University high schools.
“It’s an opportunity for us to open up our doors to the youth and what I consider our potential future leaders to give them an idea of what we do. There’s a lot of people that know CJIS but don’t really know what we do,” Scott Schubert, section chief of law enforcement engagement and data sharing at CJIS.
“It’s important that we get out there and show that because we are here in West Virginia, we are a part of the community.”
Schubert said the students, who had to apply to attend the academy, were able to get a first-hand look at the variety of services performed at the facility in hopes of sparking interest in a career in law enforcement and potentially with the FBI.
“Whatever their career path may be, there’s an opportunity that they can come here and serve the American people by working for the FBI,” Schubert said.
“When you think about the FBI you think of just the agents in the field, but all the work that’s done behind the scenes to help our law enforcement partners, to help keep our communities – to help keep our country safe, is done right here in West Virginia,” he said.
Throughout the day, students were exposed to various aspects of CJIS including an inside look at their biometrics division and IT department, as well as talks with a member of the FBI SWAT team and an FBI Police K9 officer.
Students also got hands-on experience with finger and footprint evidence collection, a simulated firearms demonstration, and heard from an FBI psychologist who talked about the work done both nationally and internationally in one of the FBI’s newest divisions – psychology.
“They are getting to see just about every aspect of what we do just so they get a behind the scenes look at what it’s like,” Schubert said. “Our hope is they come here, and they go through, and they get to hear from different people at CJIS that this might be something they would want to do down the road.”
The students’ reasons for attending the academy varied. Some already had an interest in a law-enforcement based career, while others were there to explore their options.
Arrington and Braylyn Sparks, twin sisters who are currently seniors at Phillip-Barbour High School, were among those who already had an idea of what their futures might look like.
“We’ve always been interested in working here, so getting to see what they do here, and the different departments is really special and not everyone gets to do this,” Braylyn said.
“It was super informative,” Arrington added. “I kind of had an idea that I wanted to be here when I was older, I just wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do, so this is kind of helping me narrow it down.
“There was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that I wasn’t aware of … ,” she continued. “They mentioned that everything at the FBI is internal, like they fix all their own problems … electricity, all that stuff.”
Bridgeport High School senior Ben Bifano said he didn’t have a particular interest in law enforcement coming into the academy but wanted to attend “just to learn more about what all goes on here. I mean it’s literally right in our town, right in our backyard and I’m not really sure of every single thing that goes on here, so I just wanted to learn more about it,” he said, adding that he may be interested in an IT job in the future.
Schubert’s hope is the students who attended will not only learn from their experience, but also take that experience and knowledge back to others.
“When they come here, they kind of get to see behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s not always what you see on TV. The people in the field can’t do what they do without the people here supplying a lot of the information to help them.”
The facility hosts several facets of the FBI including the National Threat Operation Center, firearm background checks, biometrics, which Schubert said is the backbone of identification, as well as the NCIC (National Crime Information Center).
“Everything information-wise is here in West Virginia serving our entire country and the world to some degree,” he said.
One of the goals of hosting the academy is to recruit local students in an effort to “keep them home, keep them local, and get into a profession where you are helping to serve others and helping to keep our country safe.”
The facility plans to continue hosting the annual academy which Schubert said, “not only gives the students a chance to see what is being done at CJIS, but it could also be an opportunity for them to get their foot in the door.”
