Learning is difficult when mental health is not cared for. I now hold a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and I would not have completed it without ensuring stable mental health. At any given moment of my degree, I had many pressures on my mind. The birth of a new child, moving houses, a few home renovations, another child on the way, a full-time student, a full-time employee, a single-income family, volunteering, and completing the degree a full semester ahead; all of these pressures required me to stay on top of my mental health. It was not without intention that my mental health stayed optimal. I kept my head in the game of education by simply talking to a few trusted people in my life when the pressures became overwhelming. I have my wife to thank, mostly, for lending her listening ear. I kept my priorities in order, making sure the most important relationships and tasks received my first efforts and energy. I kept doing the activities that helped me relax, such as exercise. I gave myself time to rest between my many responsibilities, to recharge and remember why I pursued education in the first place; to set the pathway of prosperity for my family after me. Without these intentional efforts, I am confident that my education would not be fruitful. Starting Fall 2026, I will pursue a master's degree in mental health counseling, specifically in marriage and family counseling. I have seen the effects when marriages and families operate out of dysfunction and conflict. In fact, I have lived through it. I have also seen the effects of families operating with peace and unity. In fact, my wife and I are cultivating it. I look forward to having the tools to help other families live in peace and unity. When the family unit thrives, all members in it thrive. When marriages are unified, each spouse can find peace in the home, which, on average, is where a person spends most of their time daily. The peace will undoubtedly find its way into the rest of the day. When family units find unity, children find incomparable security, enabling their success in every other part of their lives. Furthermore, when the children begin their own families, they will operate by the same standards of peace, unity, and security. Having this scholarship is a means to an end, which is more families functioning well.

Standing out, stepping up, and becoming great is what being a first-generation student means to me. I am the first and only of my parents and brothers to earn a bachelor's degree, and the first and only to pursue a master's degree. I looked at the opportunity for education and decided it was a worthwhile pursuit, not only for my benefit but also for my children after me. On a single income, as a full-time firefighter, full-time student, full-time husband, and full-time father of two toddlers with another on the way, I wrestled through my bachelor's degree with many late nights and many long hours. And yet, despite the immense time commitments on my shoulders, enough to bring tears to my eyes on a few occasions, I prevailed. My family still felt important; they knew I was always thinking of them and being with them. My grades were strong; I finished my bachelor's degree with a 3.7 GPA. Moreover, I completed a course load designed to take two years in one and a half years. Now looking forward to a master's degree in Marital and Family Clinical Counseling, starting Fall of 2026, I am seeking funding to keep my family debt-free and unburdened by the high cost of education. The degree costs $36,000, and I have tried every scholarship and grant I can find to pay for it. Yet, every possibility has been unfruitful, and there are very few to choose from for a graduate degree. I so deeply want to be a counselor, to guide families through conflict. I want to see households discover peace and unity. I strongly believe that if the family unit can improve relationally, then every member will also improve. Spouses will have a marriage they have always desired. Children will enjoy the peace that comes from a stable spousal relationship, thereby thriving in every other part of their lives. I have seen firsthand what familial disorder, dysfunction, and tension do to adults and children alike; In fact, I have lived through it. There is no sense of stability, and life itself becomes chaotic. I have also seen what familial unity and peace do for children and adults alike; In fact, I am cultivating it. My wife and I have built a home that our children feel immersed in a sense of security, like heaven on earth. I want other families to experience the same security, the same unity, the same peace. I am confident that I can maintain an impressive GPA and familial relationships; I need the funding to continue forward. I have no desire to go into debt because I believe the money I make is best spent on people, not bills.

The mind is like a prized possession. Failure to maintain, care for, and nurture it results in deterioration. I seek this scholarship to aid me in attending the University of Wisconsin - Superior counseling degree program, so I can help those who struggle with mental health. I recognize in myself the ability to help others objectively see their minds through their subjective experiences. Struggles like depression, anger, isolation, anxiety, worry, and bitterness all point to an objective issue to rectify. As a wise man once said, "whatever is left undealt with will remain undealt with until you deal with it". This quote shows the extent to which a mind can remain trapped in the past, circling the circumstance unrelentingly. Through my education, I can share with those struggling the tools to address what is not addressed. I can help people find freedom from their own minds and see life through a healing perspective. I only wish to help people and nothing more. The benefit I gain is knowing I contributed as much good as I could to this world. Any funds I earn from this scholarship will certainly not go to waste. Every dollar has the potential to free someone from their mental health struggles.

The fire service has been a childhood dream come true for me. Big trucks, big tools, and oversized garden hoses attracted my seven-year-old eyes. The grandeur of the big white fire truck coming to my parents' house after I set it on fire was mesmerizing. The brave adults came to fix my mistake in such a valiant and magnificent way. One such firefighter took me aside and helped me understand the danger of matches. It was after the house fire was extinguished that the flame of desire kindled in my heart to be a firefighter. As I grew older, the desire to be a firefighter centered on helping others in need. I was taught growing up that if someone needs help and I can provide the help, I should. I saw in high school members of the fire department rush to my school to aid a fellow student who had a seizure. I knew I could not help in that situation, but I was able to see those who could help do so. I saw the fire department come out to the school when I was a junior in high school to show us the dangers of drunk driving by performing a mock drunk driving accident. The lessons they taught us are unforgettable, and I saw yet another reason to become a firefighter. The flame of desire grew all the more. Now, as a married man with two little kids of my own, and with a career job as a firefighter, the fire service means that I have a way to support my family. I see the fire service as a resource that ensures my family is clothed, fed, and under a roof. It is a means to provide a life full of opportunity to my children as they grow and develop. The fire service enables my wife to be a stay-at-home mother, which has been her childhood dream. Due to the ones who depend on me for a way of life, the fire service has a value to me that is beyond a simple paycheck. My family is taken care of because of the work I do as a firefighter. The flame of desire is not bright and magnificent, raging with passion for the work I do and the people I help. As the flame continues to grow, I seek to gain more education in fire service leadership so that one day I may become a chief officer, helping the development of my department members. I aim high to become a public speaker for the fire service that I may aid in the development of fire department members across the country. Pick me!!!

My life of servitude has been shown in a multitude of my experiences. There is no lack of these serving experiences, and I look forward to more serving experiences. I truly enjoy helping others by the means I have. If the means is time, I give time. If it is money, I give money. If it is physical strength, I use my strength. If it is council, I give council. What I have as an asset is for the betterment of another. This is how I live my life, without the slightest exaggeration in the saying. The question to answer when it comes to my experiences of servitude is what are they and how were others positively impacted? Out of the many examples to provide, there are a couple that come to mind readily. The first was when I pushed an elderly man up a hill whilst he was on his bicycle. I was in school for paramedicine and had just finished a shift at the hospital for my clinical time. On the way home, having arrived at a busy intersection, I noticed an elderly homeless man struggling to ride his bike up a small hill just past the intersection. The bike lane was in the middle of the traffic flow. I immediately pulled my truck over to a median and got out. I scurried across the parking lot and said I was going to help him. He got back on his bike and I pushed him up the hill. Afterward, I got back in my truck and continued my way home. A second example that comes to mind is when I was at a laundry mat. I was volunteering at a church event called Laundry Love, which pays for people's laundry for one and one-half hours. The event had finished and one of the patrons, who had left after doing her laundry, came back inside. Her car had run out of gas and there was a gas station across the street. I and another went out to her car, instructed her to sit in the driver seat to steer the car, and we pushed the car to the gas station. We even paid for the fuel. She was no doubt grateful and she told us how much it meant to her. These are two examples that did not take much time but meant the world to these people. There was a need someone had and I was quick to act because I had the means to help.

Being in the fire service has been a dream of mine since childhood. Most of my imaginative play time was about being a firefighter. I loved dressing up in my snow pants which represented my turnout pants. I put on my big, puffy, winter jacket to be my turnout coat. I wore my ski mask, put on a bike helmet, and fought the fire. It was awesome. Today, I am joyful to live out my childhood dream. I served the City of Wisconsin Rapids as a firefighter/paramedic. In total, I have been in the fire service for five years. The fire service to me, at the surface, is about putting out the fire, performing HAZMAT operations, vehicle extrication, high and low-angle rescue, boat operations, and many more disciplines. In the middle, it is about living for something beyond one's self. It is about going out of your way to make someone's bad day a good day. At its core, the fire service is about remembering the past generations, learning from what they experienced, and carrying the principles forward into the future. With these principles, we learn to adjust our practices to better the safety of the community. We strive to be excellent in every way and proficient in every discipline. The fire service is about raising the next generation of firefighters to carry the torch forward into a better service worldwide. It is no easy feat to be a firefighter. While anyone has the potential to be a firefighter, it takes a driven and passionate person, keen about details, and ready to bring the best of who they are to the community they serve. It takes a disciplined person to continually practice the disciplines that are not often used due to the frequency of the calls. However, a firefighter must always be ready for the call to action. It takes a person with a desire to be better than who they were yesterday. This person must always be learning how to be a better firefighter. A firefighter must be able to talk kindly and politely, even when they are not treated that way. A firefighter must be ready to serve beyond themselves, even if it means what is most valuable. Humility and integrity are paramount to a good firefighter. The fire service has many disciplines. It has people who serve beyond themselves. It has the learned values from past generations with the drive to learn more. The person who desires to be a firefighter must be able to master these areas.

Emergency services as a branch of health care has improved patient outcomes. I believe we are on the brink of jaw-dropping advancements. I think of the technology adopted into practice even in my current but short career as a firefighter/paramedic. One such advancement is a tool known as the Hamilton ventilator. This ventilator is a brilliant tool that can automatically assess and adjust for the patient's breathing or lack thereof. While in this mode of operation, it measures how much air the patient breathes in, how fast the patient breathes, and how much residual air is in the patient's lungs. It takes this information and automatically formulates a treatment plan for the patient. This takes the human factor out of the equation, leaving less room for mistakes and more room for better patient outcomes. Another tool I have seen implemented is ultrasound. Ultrasound allows us to look internally at soft tissue organs like the heart. During a cardiac arrest event, there are a myriad of treatments being applied to the patient. We attempt to keep blood circulating through the body with CPR, keeping good blood pressure as were do CPR with medicine, and ensuring a patent airway as we give ventilations with an endotracheal tube. Should all of these interventions prove unsuccessful and the patient's heart no longer continues to beat, the ultrasound can confirm visually that the heart is not beating. Without the ultrasound, an EKG machine and checking for pulses are the primary ways to assess cardiac activity. The ultrasound allows us to see the heart visually. A third advancement is the SAM junctional tourniquet. This device allows for hemorrhage control in difficult areas like the groin. This device wraps around the waist and using air, deploys an inflatable plug that applies pressure to the bleeding site. The groin is typically a spot where constant pressure must be applied by an EMS provider's hand. The SAM junctional tourniquet frees up the provider to administer further care to the patient. Technology for the healthcare field is a friend to learn more about. It is a subject to be tried and tested, explored and discovered. It is a tool that, when used correctly, acts as a stepping stone into the future of healthcare. Healthcare is by large a continuing practice. We do, we make mistakes, we learn and get better. Technology can shorten the learning curve to bring faster and more effective resolve.

I am Justin, a firefighter/paramedic in Wisconsin. The role I play is entirely to make a positive impact on the community I serve. Every day I set up for my shift, I know I can see any number of situations arise. I know I will see people, sometimes in the worst times of their lives. My role meet people in these worst times brings a hopeful light for them to look to. There was a situation where I and my partner were called to a person unresponsive. We go and find the person on a bed. The person's brother was in the corner of the room in tears. I go over and check for a pulse and breathing. There was none. I pulled the person onto the floor and began CPR. After about ten minutes of CPR, I checked a pulse and the person had one. I couldn't believe it at first because of the other findings there were as we treated this person. It did not seem like he would have a pulse again. I had a partner check to see if he could find a pulse and he agreed. It was a surreal moment. We had brought somebody back from death. More importantly, we gave a man his brother back. When he thought that his brother was gone, we gave him new hope through our efforts. It doesn't matter who comes into the back of the ambulance, they are treated with great quality and respect. I have seen the not-so-great part of the ambulance service where it is hard to show respect to people. I am talking about the people who call 911 for the 20th time in a month and they seemingly don't have a medical emergency. These calls can make you question if people know what an ambulance is actually for but regardless, they deserve respect. People have been belligerent toward me when I am trying to help but my job is to treat them as people because they are. I don't escalate but I de-escalate. I still talk to them in the same voice I would a person who is kind. Why? It is because they are still people. The role I play as a firefighter/paramedic has grown me as a person. I find I am more patient and calm than when I first worked the job. It also helps having a toddler to learn patience and calmness but that is a separate story. I have learned how to bring peace to a chaotic situation. I have learned how to make space for people to express a great range of emotions in reaction to bad situations. I have learned that my role is not simply to fix problems but to holistically treat the person to hopefully create for them a better outcome.

I am Justin. I am a husband to my beautiful wife of four years in October, a father of a lovely 1&1/2-year-old little girl, and I work as a firefighter/paramedic in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. I play music and exercise in my leisure time. Sports and volunteer efforts are activities that grab people's attention far and wide. We have numerous television channels and websites dedicated to the latest sports games and statistics in our culture. Every day you can find anything you want related to the sports you desire. The media is saturated with it. Volunteerism is in the same vein, people doing goodwill for the betterment of others. We can see people serving in soup kitchens and helping senior citizens with everyday needs. While these may be televised and broadcast, they both share a common factor. Most of the work required for these efforts goes unseen. What does make it to the media is a small glimpse of the countless hours dedicated to being a better sports player or giving back to the community. It takes real commitment, inspiration, discipline, and critique to do these things. In my own experience, I know this to be true. In all of my growing up, I have been involved in sports. I started playing baseball at the coach's pitch level until my sophomore year of high school. I started playing football in fourth grade and played through my senior year of high school. I participated in track and field in my junior and senior years of high school. I had a blast. What was consistent in every win and loss I experienced was my hours of dedication to becoming better at the game. Week after week I trained and trained hard. While I wasn't training for sports, I was volunteering my time and effort for people. I volunteered at my church often and helped church members who needed help with various projects. I have helped people reroof their homes, run electrical work through their homes, fix plumbing issues, pour concrete, cut down trees, and landscaping. I did these things for the simple joy of helping others. This is what I continue to enjoy doing. This scholarship to me is not simply to pay for college. It is to carry on the legacy of a young person who was committed to giving back to others, even desiring to join the military. It is to honor a lady who wanted the best for her sports adventures.

What is life but a series of challenges to define the grit one has or expose the cowardice within? I have gone through my fair share of challenges and indeed I have grit. This of course is not my word but the words of my wife, family, and friends. During my associate degree, I faced many obstacles. I moved twice, had a child, was on the job hunt, and hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for my side of the family. This is much to wrap into a two-year time. Yet through it all, I prevailed. I came out stronger than I did before. I even managed to lose weight. Throughout all of these, I persisted. I kept moving forward. My time became scarce but the quality of it became valuable. I held the mind of a soldier in that I would not accept defeat. I would not accept surrender. I fought forward with the goal in mind to complete the degree. As persistence permeated throughout my school experience, I showed great focus. As in the movie Patch Adams when Patch learns to look beyond the problem, I too learned to look beyond the challenges I faced. I saw the goals of my career served as a guide to managing my time and efforts into a successful pursuit. When I focused on my goals, my thoughts and actions fell in line. I made sure my actions lined up with the vision I saw for my future. This allowed for precise use of my time. according to my wife, she never felt like she took second place in my schooling. She always felt like she was the most important. This alone is a testament to my determination to overcome because it seeps with excellence. This resilience shaped me to greatly value my time. In the field I currently work in of emergency medicine, time is essential. For patients having strokes, time is crucial. For patients having heart attacks, time is muscle. The longer these patients are away from definitive health care in a hospital setting, the worse their conditions become, even to the point of death. The time management I learned in school carries over to the time management in the back of the ambulance. I am continually improving the efficiency of the skills I have learned to create faster on-scene times and get the patient to the hospital quickly. Now I look forward to continuing my time management skills as I pursue my bachelor's degree in Fire and Emergency Resource management. I will undoubtedly face more challenges. I will continually persevere.

Starting college later in life is certainly an adventure, a journey that can make for restless nights and rewarding outcomes. I did not start college immediately out of high school as many come to do. I began school full-time shortly after I married my beautiful wife. I knew I needed to mature more to obtain value from college. Cool enough, my wife was also in college when we married. We were able to complete our degrees together. As I continued my education, life kept moving. My wife and I moved twice, we had our first child, and I was on the job hunt for around nine months. It was a whirlwind that came as fast as it went it seemed. What I learned from that time was precious. I learn impeccable time management skills. I was able to complete my 12-15 credit workload and still get to bed on time. I was still able to spend time with my wife and maintain my other commitments. Like any successful journey, there were times when it seemed impossible. I can't tell you the number of times I reminded myself to keep pushing forward because better was ahead. So I pressed on, one step after another. Now I get to relish on those two years, reminded of their success with a framed diploma. Now I press forward again, preparing again for a heavy load. This time I have a bachelor's degree to pursue, a degree focusing on Fire and Emergency Resource management. The plan is to complete 12 credits per semester, all while having my wife, now toddler, full-time job, and other commitments. I prepare now knowing full well of the times to come and what I will be balancing. Financially I am preparing with many numerous scholarship applications. I am studying material ahead of time so that I may understand it well. I am beginning habits that I can carry with me throughout my schooling, the structure I can rely on for time management. No doubt I will learn yet again a deeper understanding of time management. Yet my strive forward outweighs the commitment this schooling will require. As I pursue becoming a fire chief in my career, I know I will take these lessons with me. Life will only get busier for me. I will simply be able to manage it better. I will not take lightly the time in front of me.

Going once, going twice, sold! To the man named Justin Shaffer, hopeful recipient of this scholarship. I am getting into sales and marketing but in a different way. This Fall of 2024, I am pursuing my bachelor's degree in Fire and Emergency Resource Management at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. You may be wondering by this point what the fire service has to do with sales and marketing. Allow me to elaborate. The fire service is predominately public, paid for by the taxpayer, and funded by grants. This means that the service must be marketed to the community's people, the city council, the mayor, and grant foundations. Those paying for the service need to know what the service does. It is amazing how much of a disconnect there can be between the knowledge of fire service operations and community members. At the fire department where I currently work, we had a member of city hall ride along with us to see the need for increased staffing first-hand. He was amazed at how much we provide for the city. Now take this disconnect and expand it to community members who do not have regular dealings with city operations, let alone the fire department. As a fire department, we display our services with every interaction we have with our community. When we train at places throughout the city, people see us and a portion of what we do. When we respond to emergencies, people see a portion of what we do. When we perform fire inspections, people see one aspect of our service. In all of these, and the many more unlisted, they see our demeanor, our professionalism, our compassion, and our commitment to excellence. What we "sell" is our services in fire and emergency medical care. We market it with how we are during these events. It is not your typical sales and marketing arena but rest assured, it is a part of the job. It is a part of what keeps the fire service going. We rely on the community as much as they rely on us. They rely on us to provide emergency services. We rely on them to keep us funded to provide these things. It is truly a beautiful cycle of I scratch your back and you scratch mine so to speak. With this scholarship, I will be able to take another step toward my goal of being a fire chief. I plan to be the gentleman who shows the community exactly why we are needed and why the community needs us.

Being a first responder is hopefully a lifelong commitment I get to finish. It is based on serving those around you to make their lives better in the worst times of their lives. As for me, this is the greatest appeal. I am one who truly enjoys helping others. I have been this way all my life, asking what I could help with. Already employed as a first responder, I get the joy of knowing my hard work benefits my wife and child. It gives them a place to live, money for necessities, and a worry-free life knowing I am taking care of them. My inspiration for joining this field of work was when I set my parent's house on fire. I was a little five-year-old who found some matches and the rest of the story can be visualized from there. I remember seeing the firetrucks pull up to the house and the men and women got to work. I was amazed at how they could turn a bad situation into a better one. This is when my desire to be a firefighter began. much of my play time as a kid revolved around being a firefighter. I am grateful I never gave up on my desire. It has been a rewarding career so far! I am currently in my fourth year as a firefighter and second year as a paramedic. I have seen many great and terrible days turned into better ones simply because of the work I do. I have seen a man regain his brother after his brother went into cardiac arrest. My partners and I were able to bring him back to life. Even better, the gentleman is still alive today. I have been a part of a team that saved a woman's life whose chief complaint was stomach pain and she ended up having internal bleeding. It is days like these that add fuel to the burning passion in me to help others. This scholarship would help me not only continue in my career but also enable me to better serve the people I work with within the department. One of my long-term goals is to be a chief of the department. Part of this goal is to obtain a bachelor's degree. As I start school Fall of 2024, I will be able to obtain my bachelor's degree. At the University of Wisconsin-OshKosh, I will pursue Fire and Emergency Resource Management. This will give me the necessary tools to be effective in the role of chief and better serve my members. When my members are served better and lead better, the community will benefit.

It is a great joy to give to people. One of the most valuable resources I find I can give is my time. In a world full of busy schedules and to-do lists, time is of the essence. My time of volunteering comes largely at church. When available, I give myself to helping in various ways. This may include playing on the worship team, helping fellow church members move from place to place, being a good friend to those who need a listening ear, and the like. All of these require my time consistently. I gladly give it to those in need. That is of course when my wife agrees it is a good thing to do. A second area of my life where I try to make a positive impact on the world is through random acts of kindness. This day as I write this essay, I was at a parade. My wife and kiddo and our neighbors. As the parade was moving along, a group was passing out bags of chips. A family with a little girl did not get one and the little girl was sad. I had seen this and an idea popped into my head. My wife had packed a few bags of chips for us during the parade. I remember this and grab one. I went to the little girl's mom and asked if the little girl would like a bag of chips. The mom said yes and the little girl burst into a big smile. She was joyful. One of my values is if the means is available, it should be used to help others. I willingly give these things because people need to know the world is not as dark as it can seem. People need to know somebody cares. I recall working at Chick-fil-A in Madison, Wisconsin some years ago. I was this mom with her two kiddos sitting at a booth and one of the kids needed to use the restroom. The mom was trying to figure out how she could take one kid to the restroom without bringing them both. I walked over to her and offered to watch the little of the two kids. She was relieved. She took the one to the restroom and I simply sat with this toddler. Of course, it wasn't long before the toddler saw mom was gone so there were a few tears but it was a little something I could do to make someone else's life better.

Mental health has gained more of a spotlight in recent years. It is reasonable to assume that anyone who is living and breathing will benefit from focusing on mental health. I am no different. I grew up kinda socially isolated. I didn't live near where my friends lived and the times I would see them was through school or church primarily. It was seldom I saw them outside of these times. As I got older, tendencies I picked up over the years further isolated me and I was not the easiest person to be around. I was being how I knew to be. However, my change came. Through the voice of friends, who did not care to mince their words, I found my solution. It is not easy to embrace at first because it hurts. My solution was and is this; I am responsible for my actions, not the results. Game changer right here. I could finally see that the isolation I felt was not entirely b because of circumstances. It was because I did not apply myself to be better. One of my friends who helped steer me in the right direction said, "If you want friends, be a friend. That meant I could not simply sit at home and wait for others to reach out. I had to reach out. I had to take responsibility for my actions. From here, I began to apply myself and be a friend to those around me. Let me tell you, I became a social butterfly and had numerous friends. From this experience, I choose to take responsibility for the things in my life. For example, I have been overweight all my life. One of my goals is to reach a healthy weight. When I applied this rule of responsibility, I began to change. Yes, it hurt because I had to see I was responsible for my weight and poor choices. Now I am gladly taking responsibility because I am seeing the results. I have lost so far 60lbs! Seeing the progress I have made has shown me what I want to do to change the world for the better. I want to be a testament to people that if they can take responsibility for their lives and not let them be steered by everything and everyone around them, they can experience the joy I have now. It is not easy but the toughest journey produces the greatest satisfaction.

I am Justin, a husband and father. I am a firefighter/paramedic with the City of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. I chose this career path because it was a childhood dream of mine to be a firefighter. The paramedic component is the bonus. I sincerely enjoy being in the back of an ambulance. I love learning about people and how I can help them get better through emergency medicine. Another one of the appeals of emergency medicine for me is the good feelings of some of the calls I've experienced in my career so far. For example, cardiac arrest. This one particular call was for an unresponsive person. Me and my partner, plus an engine crew head to the address. My partner and I head in and find the patient draped across a bed. I checked for a pulse and signs of breathing. There were none. I felt the patient's chest and it was still warm. I got the patient off the bed and onto the floor and began CPR. After about 10 minutes of advanced cardiac life support CPR, the patient's heart began to beat again on its own, known as return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). We got him loaded into the ambulance and down to the hospital. It was an amazing feeling to save a life. It is not too often this is the outcome of CPR. The part of this that carries an even stronger good feeling is the guy is still alive today. I crossed paths with him, funny enough, on an ambulance call about two weeks after he went into cardiac arrest. The last thing that appeals to me about emergency medicine is the fast pace of it all. From difficulty breathing, to chest pain, to acute traumatic calls, they all require a fast pace and proficiency of skills. I remember recently I and my partner were called for a stroke. We go to the address with lights and sirens. We got there and the patient had left-sided weakness and arm drift. He also had facial droop. We got him in the ambulance, talking him through the multitude of steps we were taking for his health. Interestingly enough as soon as we were in the ambulance, his symptoms went away. We could only guess he was having a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Nonetheless, it was an adrenaline-filled call, not only because it was a possible stroke, but because it had been less than one hour when his symptoms first appeared. This scholarship would help me obtain my Fire and Emergency Resource Management bachelor's degree. It is one piece of my overall career plan and I look forward to how it will help me impact the lives of many more people.

I am Justin. I am a husband, a father, and a current firefighter/paramedic. I am simple in that most of my time is spent with family time, exercise, work, or reading. I enjoy the pleasant view of a bright sunny morning and I dabble in music. I wanted to be a firefighter since I was a young child, perhaps five years old or so. Funny enough, my first encounter with firefighters was when I set my parent's house on fire at the same age. I was enthralled with all that they did and I wanted to be just like them when I grew up. My time of play during my younger years revolved around firefighting. I would find a pair of snow pants, a big puffy jacket, a winter hood, and gloves, and I would pretend to fight fire. It was and still is the coolest job in the world. Here I am today, living that dream. I am at the beginning of my career. I have a total of four years of experience. As I gain experience and competence in the job, I look forward to what is possible for me. I desire to be a chief officer. I want to have this role so that I may hopefully be of greater influence in mental health for the fire department. I care so deeply about people that I want them to outlive their careers. I don't want to see another person given to alcohol or drugs because they did not see a way to talk about what they struggle with related or unrelated to the job. I don't want to hear about another person who ended their life because they could not live with the pain of a call that happened 20 years ago. I want to help people be free in this field of work. I want to help extinguish the raging flames in people's minds. This scholarship will help with my plans. I am attending the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh starting Fall of 2024. I am looking to obtain my bachelor's degree in fire and emergency resource management. This will help me with the logistical side of the role of fire chief. After this degree, I plan to obtain my master's degree in therapy to help with the mental part of being a chief. It will help me understand the mind better. Before this happens, I need to take the steps of obtaining my bachelor's degree. This is why I am a first responder and why I am pursuing this degree in Fire and emergency resource management.

I work as a firefighter/paramedic in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. I chose this field because it was my childhood dream. The first time I saw firefighters in action, albeit it was when I set my parent's house on fire, I wanted to do as they did. So I pursued my dream and am thankful to now live it. Like any fire service member, I desire to make an impact. I want to see the fire service host a more effective management of mental health. While the service as a whole is starting to realize the impact the job has on the minds of its members, I want to see it change how we come home at the end of the shift. I want every member to feel comfortable to share what is on their mind and not keep it isolated. I want every member to know it is okay to feel icky after a gut-wrenching call and know there is a network of people able and willing to share the burden. I think one of the ways I can see this impact during my career is to become a chief and earn the marks of a chief. While influence occurs at any level of an organization, I think having the role of chief will better serve this vision come to pass. One other goal I have is to obtain a therapist degree, not for the sake of owning my own business but rather to better understand the mind of another person. If I can understand the mind better, I may perhaps be able to help someone understand theirs and therefore become free from the pains of mental isolation.