“American Graduate: Getting To Work” Sparking Firefighter Careers

There are few more mission-driven careers than being a firefighter. Just listen to the students and teachers at the Fort Osage Career & Technical Center.

“Someone I’m very close to… got in a really bad wreck, and I know that if it hadn’t been for the first responders that were there, she would have been dead,” said Kelsey Paul, a junior at Blue Springs South High School. “It wasn’t a question of whether I wanted to help people. I just knew I wanted to.”

Tim Krickle, fire science and EMT coordinator at the Fort Osage Career & Technical Center, said the “full-service program” allows students to earn four state-level certifications needed to become a firefighter.

“It prepares them to go anywhere in the country and apply or work towards a fire service career,”  Krickle said. “I still consider myself in the fire service, because I’m training future firefighters. If I was young again, I would do it all over again.”

Hear their stories on this week’s installment of “American Graduate: Getting to Work.”