Nine Mount Pleasant High School Public Safety students competed at the Texas Public Safety Association (TPSA) Region 2 conference in Whitehouse on Saturday, February 15. MPHS students competed in nine different events including Traffic Stop, Anthropology, Law Enforcement Agility Course, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Inmate Processing, Fingerprint Collection, Job Exhibit, and Closing Argument.

The team of Valeria Bello, Raquel Garza, Abigail Guerrero, Addison Heeren, Esmeralda Perez, and Zaid Perez placed 3rd in SWAT Team and advanced to the state competition in March. The SWAT event immerses competitors in a high-stakes scenario requiring tactical planning and execution. Participants must respond to a simulated emergency, such as shots already fired or officer down, and make critical decisions under pressure.

Other competitors, their events, and their placements were:

Anthropology—Jose Olivares (11th out of 42)

Closing Arguments—Raquel Martinez (10th out of 62)

Fingerprint Collection and Analysis—Olivares (15th out of 41)

Inmate Processing—Guerrero (10th out of 18)

Job Exhibit—Garza and Nuria Ortiz (5th)

Female Law Agility Course—E. Perez (6th)

Male Law Agility Course—Z. Perez (9th)

Traffic Stop—Heeren (9th out of 77)

Mount Pleasant High School offers a four-year program of study in Public Safety including Principles of Public Safety, Law Enforcement I, Law Enforcement II, and Forensic Science. TPSA advisors are Abraham Ramirez, Sadonna Stinson, and Kelli Williams. The State competition will take place on March 23-26 in Allen.

Photo:

MPHS SWAT team state qualifiers

Front (L to R) Raquel Garza, Zaid Perez, Valeria Bello

Back (L to R) Esmeralda Perez, Addison Heeren

Not pictured Abigail Guerrero