Video Transcript

A/SAC Austin

As one of many components of the FBI's Community Outreach program, every FBI field office hosts a Teen Academy. It’s a once-a-year event in the fall. It's a two-day event in which students, generally a couple of dozen students from across the state of Washington, gather here at our headquarters city office in Seattle and learn all about the different violations and programs that FBI Seattle operates.

A/SAC Austin

The biggest thing is a better understanding of what the FBI is and who the people are behind the FBI. We find that most of their perception is shaped by Hollywood, which is, of course, not quite accurate.

Steve V.

So for me, I hope the teenagers that are coming, the high school students that are coming to participate, one, get a knowledge about the FBI because I think our culture and popular culture, television, media portray a certain vision of the FBI that may or may not be accurate and so I think it's great for them to get a perspective that's from the source and they can see what it's really like.

McKinley

I'm hoping for experience and to learn everything about what you guys do so that maybe one day I will join. I'm looking into everything, and I think it's a really good opportunity.

Haniffer

I'm interested in going into law enforcement, and I just wanted to learn more about what the FBI does, what it's about. I just want to see what it's like, see the field, and see if this would be something I would like to do in the future. 

Avalynn

So I actually was skimming around on the Internet because this is something that I've always wanted to do. Like this category type things. And I just came across it online. This is a field I want to go into. So in general, I want to know it all. I want to see what it's about. And just the more forensic side of the FBI. 

A/SAC Austin

You'll hear about a couple of categories of presentations. One is the sorts of violations we work on a day-to-day basis. Everything ranging from public corruption or crimes against children to cyber, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and other violations. The other is a number of experiences with our specialty programs like SWAT and evidence response.

Marcus K.

So the Evidence Response Ream is a CSI team for the FBI. We do complex homicide, other violent crime scenes, terrorism scenes, anything with a federal nexus. We can also assist the locals and come out and process their crime scenes that come into play. 

A/SAC Austin

But the FBI is far from just special agents. Every year, we onboard dozens of young adults as everything from intelligence analysts to computer scientists. So they get to see that. And I think they get to see the possibility of becoming one of these employees themselves.

Marcus K.

This is the next generation of individuals are going to be joining the FBI. And I'm really excited to see the advancements that they're going to create, whether it's in cyber, forensics, whatever, to catch the bad guys and get them off the street. I've also seen over the years, I've seen some of these kids come back and actually join the FBI after. So it's been kind of a cool thing to see them come back.

Margaret T.

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of times you think FBI, you think special agent, and there are lots of different roles that people can have when you join this organization. So as an intel analyst, I'm excited to share kind of what my role is on the squad and show them another example of what you can do if you join. 

Marcus K.

I just hope they have a great time. I mean, this is fun. They're here to learn about the FBI, and I just hope they have a great time and learn a lot.