Skylar's Hope Scholarship

As a graduating senior, I feel incredibly honored to be entering the first responder job field. I am lucky enough that this year I was able to dual-enroll in the Center Line High School Fire Academy. The CLHS Fire Academy offers juniors and seniors the opportunity to complete the fire academy while they are still in high school. I began the academy a little apprehensive and nervous about choosing a career as a first responder, very quickly after I joined I realized I had made the right decision and I had found a career I was eager to jump into. My instructors have been a guiding force in showing me all the opportunities I will have as I advance in this service, and have taught me about what it truly means to be a leader and successful first responder. In the beginning of the school year, me along with my peers struggled with the new concepts of the fire academy and felt incredibly challenged by tasks that were often daunting. But with time we learned how to overcome our fears and successfully complete those tasks. I did so through leadership positions. Every year my instructor offers the cadets the chance to become an officer of the class. Becoming an officer was a major event in my time at the academy that really helped me realize why I wanted to be a first responder. Me, along with three other cadets were selected after a board interview and essay process to become Lieutenants, where we each were in charge of an "engine company," and were tasked with helping instruct other students in training. Later on in the year, I was selected out of the group of Lieutenants to be promoted to Cadet Captain. Both positions as Lieutenant and Captain taught me incredible lessons on what it meant to be a positive leader and a problem solver. My biggest lesson I learned was that there is always more room to learn. My instructors always made sure we knew that fire school never ends, and there will always be something new and exciting to further my education as a firefighter and EMT. As an officer of the academy it was important to me that I remember that lesson. Even though I was promoted, me and my fellow cadets are all learning together and are all on the same playing field. Navigating the fire academy takes teamwork and as a leader I want to promote the idea that we were all in it together. All the time spent together with my academy is the reason why I love this career so much and why I am so excited to become a first responder. Every day in the classroom brought new challenges to solve together and created a long lasting bond as friends that we will carry with us as we graduate and become working adults. I am equally as excited to become and EMT as becoming a firefighter. I recently discovered how interesting emergency medicine is, and I am ready to begin this new chapter in my life. I am glad to see that there are other students in the world like me, who began this journey in high school and found a career where they truly belong. While it was very scary in the beginning, I discovered the best job in the world. Me and Skylar share the same dream to help our communities and this scholarship will allow me to pay for EMT class, continue my education, and chase my dreams as a first responder.