WORCESTER, Mass — About 30 high school students now know a little more about life as a first responder.

"We respond to accident scenes, " Nick North said. "We move patients between hospitals and healthcare facilities."

North is a nurse with UMass Memorial Life Fight. He's been responding to scenes for about five years and said he never heard of anything like this when he was picking a career.

"This is the job I always wanted to do," North said. "We love coming out to these events to show the youth and people who are going to fill our roles as we get older."

The demonstration was part of Anna Maria's Battle of the Badges program. It gives future public safety workers a chance to hear from the people who do the jobs every day.

"The FBI is here, the U.S. Marshalls are here," Michael Stevens, associate vice president of Anna Maria's public safety program, said. The Boston fire department, swat team is here. The K9 is here."

Members from the Worcester swat team took students through different scenarios and showed them some of the equipment they keep in their cruisers. 

"In these times and the transition in policing in America today and the new generation of law enforcement," Stevens said. "To see so many young people want to go into law enforcement is great."

Stevens said at a time when people are shying away from jobs as police officers, programs like this help inspire more people to join an important field. 

"They get to see and experience first hand," Stevens said. "Let me tell you, they get bit by the bug."