During my sophomore year of high school, I decided that I wanted to join our local fire department. I attended the department's September Monthly Meeting where I was able to fill out an application to become a junior member. I was able to respond to many calls, with many restrictions, but it didn't stop me from picking up key information that would help me in the future. Speed through a couple of years, during my senior year of high school, I made the choice to take the New Jersey Firefighter 1 course at our county training center (HCESTC for short). Three months of intense training later, I took the State exam (with a couple short exams in between). A day before Christmas Eve, I received an email stating that I had passed the State's exam, and that my certifications were in the mail. Long weeks went by, and I finally received the little green card that certified I was officially Firefighter recognized by the State of New Jersey. Along with my Firefighter 1 certification, I hold many other smaller, but equally important, certifications:

• Basic Life Support: CPR and basic first aid from the American Heart Association.

• Elevator Emergencies: This course taught me the basic operations of elevators, how to use the override keys, scene safety (lock-out/tag-out), and basic emergency proceedures for an elevator rescue.

• Yearly requirements, such as RTK (Right to Know) and Bloodborne Pathogens.

• Vehicle Rescue Awareness: Awareness level training on how to extricate a victim from a vehicle.

• Pump Operations: Basic knowledge on how to run the pump on a piece of fire apparatus.