Girls State wrapped up Saturday in Vermillion. Usually the young women are learning about politics and government, but Saturday they learned about something a little different.
Yankton Police Lieutenant Michael Burgeson is showing some young ladies what to do if they ever find themselves in the path of an active shooter.
"That's our goal here today is to come in here and give these girls the tools that they need if they should ever encounter a situation that has an active shooter, or someone with a knife or something,” Burgeson said.
Hundreds of high school junior girls gathered for South Dakota Girls State's last event of the week, active shooter training.
"We need to be more informed on it, because someday it could happen to one of us," Gabrielle Kramer said.
"It can happen in high school, college, at the mall, it can happen anywhere, I think you need to be aware of it," Sam Riley, High School Student, said.
That's why Burgeson is teaching them how to handle a dangerous situation. He says the best thing to do is run, hide, or fight back to protect others.
"As leaders their going to pass that situation on. The more people know how to handle a situation like that, the less people are going to get hurt," Burgeson said.
And that's the knowledge most girls are now walking away with.
"Try to help the situation and help others around you," Riley said.
"Try to get everyone out of there, you may not be able to help everyone, but you could save some lives," Kramer said.
While an active shooting may be something that's hard to prevent or control, Burgeson is hoping his advice and teachings help save a life in the future.