AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- The emergency is completely fake. Severe flooding impacted a fictitious Texas town, Needland, before an EF-3 tornado touched down in the town less than a day later, causing major infrastructure damage, trapping and injuring thousands of people in a four-county area, and derailing a passenger train. Again, the emergency is completely made up, but for the cadets in the Texas Department of Emergency Management's Emergency Management Academy, it's a chance to put their eight months of training to work. A fake train derailment helps emergency response professionals train for different kinds of scenarios at Texas A&M's Disaster City (Photo Courtesy: Nexstar). The exercise is the cohort's capstone before they graduate at the State Capitol on Friday. The program is unlike anything in the country, giving its students experience and knowledge on how to handle all phases of emergency management, from preparedness and response to recovery and mitigation. TDEM says the goal of the program is to train the future emergency managers. At its core, the agency is responsible for communicating and coordinating with local and state resources that are responding to emergencies around the state, like wildfires, floods, and winter storms. Emergency managers are usually not the first responders you see fighting wildfires or rescuing people from flooded neighborhoods. They play a crucial role behind the scenes, coordinating the response from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The third cohort is now at the end of its cycle and putting their knowledge to the test in the Needland disaster. Lisa Rubey, who graduated in the first cohort of the academy, now works for TDEM and is a training coordinator for the program. "This gives them the courage and experience to go out and do it in the real world," Rubey explained. At the end of the academy, cadets are able to apply for positions within TDEM or take their knowledge and skills to other Texas jurisdictions or even other states and countries. "It takes everyone to respond to a disaster and TDEM is the support feature that helps all of our local communities go through it, and having those partners and us working together and having that same knowledge and training is extremely important to building the future," Rubey explained. A diverse pool of applicants People from all different ages and educational backgrounds are eligible to apply for the program. There is no need to have a background in emergency management. In the first two cohorts, the program received 350 applicants from 20 different states and four different countries. A spokesperson for the TDEM said applicants can be looking for a second career or straight out of school. Jacklynn Peña is one of the 24 cadets in the third cohort. She received a Master's in Disaster Studies from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She said the program has been extremely beneficial. Jacklynn Peña working with her colleagues on the capstone exercise (Photo Courtesy: Nexstar). "So whenever we go on into the real life we know what to do," Peña said. ...read more read less