SIERRA VISTA — As if  they were speed-dating with higher education, high school students were fixed up with a few college courses Thursday.

Welding, game design, crime scene investigation and fire science were a few of the subjects they got to try out at Cochise College in Sierra Vista.

Juniors and seniors from nine high schools across Cochise County attended the computer technology education sampler. The event was offered as a new way to introduce students to the college’s offerings, said Deb Munson, a student recruitment coordinator at the college.

Rather just talk at students, the college wanted to give them a hands-on experience, she said.

Erica Pickett of Benson High School examines a “dead body” during the crime scene investigation study as part of the Cochise College Technology Sampler program on Thursday. Students from throughout Cochise County received a hands-on sampling of career fields from automotive repair to avionics. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)

After a presentation by Monster.com, a career and recruitment Web site, about 190 students headed off to one of the class samplers. Some students got to troubleshoot a car, others learned what it’s like to be an EMT responding to a 911 call and others flexed their marketing muscles. At the avionics demo, students learned how radios used by pilots are similar to their cell phones and MP3 players.

Meanwhile, Morgan Smith and Nathan Walls of Benson High School were busy preparing appetizers with other students interested in the culinary arts.

The experience gave Smith an idea of what it’s like to be a chef.

“We had an hour to make 80 appetizers,” she said. “If you work hard under pressure this would be easy.”

Walls said the experience was good to have, “Just another day in the job, I think.”

Wall’s and Smith’s Vietnamese spring rolls, along with Italian Pin Wheels and other hors d’oeuvres were served to and judged by other students at the event.

Other sample classes included competition opportunities and the top students were awarded scholarships for a three-unit course at Cochise College and other prizes, including iTunes gift cards.

After trying the appetizers, William Freschman, a student at St. David High School, showed the souvenir license plate he made at the welding demonstration.

Students started out in a computer lab and designed their name on a rectangular pattern in a computer program. “We saved it on a flash drive and took it out to a plasma cutter and the plasma cutter did the rest,” Freschman said.

Abraham Gonzalez, an Omega Alpha Charter School student, attended the fire science sample class where students learned the work of a firefighter and were timed to see how quickly they could correctly put on a self-contained breathing apparatus.

Gonzalez also attended the basic game design class, which earned his approval. There, Dan Guilmette, a computer information systems instructor, introduced students to basic game design software before students began creating a maze game. An associate’s degree in game design and creation is one of the college’s offerings.

Gonzalez plans to go to college but isn’t sure what he wants to study yet, he said.

The event helped other students find new areas of interest or to eliminate them, in Curtis Feagan’s case. “I found out I don’t want to be a mechanic,” said Feagan, a student at CAS Charter School. He feels more inclined towards business and entrepreneurship, he said. Carl George, a teacher at Wilcox High School, said he was glad to see his students attend the event. “It’s a good life experience for kids to come up and see what it’s like, and go on to college,” he said.

Herald/Review reporter Laura Ory can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at laura.ory@svherald.com.