PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Army National Guard is bringing its mixed-reality disaster-response simulator to Philadelphia-area high schools this fall as part of a seven-market tour that combines emergency-response training scenarios with student recruitment outreach.
Disasterville will visit high schools in Philadelphia and six other markets between September and November, following an inaugural spring tour that reached more than 2,000 students.
The program puts teams of five students through three 10-minute simulated missions involving a wildfire, hurricane flooding, and an earthquake. The scenarios are modeled on emergency-response work performed by National Guard soldiers.
Students wear Meta Quest 3 virtual-reality headsets while moving through physical structures installed in school gyms. Augmented- and virtual-reality graphics transform the structures into buildings, debris, rough terrain, and other hazards.
Hand-tracking technology allows participants to use simulated rescue equipment without game controllers, including hoses, oars, chainsaws, and the jaws of life.
In the wildfire scenario, students work to contain fires threatening a home and rescue animals. The flood exercise requires teams to evacuate survivors by boat after a hurricane, while the earthquake mission involves rescuing passengers and responding to a simulated hazardous-material spill following a train derailment.
“Natural disasters are not slowing down, and Army National Guard Soldiers are playing a critical role in response efforts across the country,” Lt. Col. Sabrina Zawada, chief of the National Guard Bureau’s Marketing and Advertising Branch, said.
The tour also serves as a recruiting opportunity. Army National Guard recruiters will be available at each stop to discuss military service with students, while a specialized crew will supervise the simulations.
The fall schedule also includes Memphis, Tennessee; Chicago; Hagerstown, Maryland; Long Island, New York; Richmond, Virginia; and Atlanta.
Extended-reality developer Dale Carman, co-founder and executive creative director of Groove Jones, helped develop the Disasterville experience.
The Army National Guard is a component of the U.S. Army whose soldiers can serve part-time while pursuing civilian employment or higher education. Guard personnel can respond to domestic emergencies in their states and provide federal support to active-duty forces.
More information about the Army National Guard is available at NationalGuard.com.
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