As I grew up, my ideas of what my career would look like as an adult are completely different from the career I have began now. My senior year of high school differed from many of my friends when I took an interest in what the firefighting could mean for me. I had not thought firefighting would be the lifestyle for me, but I believed that joining the academy would give me some direction and give me insight and experience for a possible career in law enforcement. I was lucky enough to become a cadet in my local high school's fire academy, in which I would complete the academy while completing my high school classes and eventually college classes provided by my local community college. Within the first week of class and practical training I had decided that there was no turning back and I had truly found the career for me. Learning the ins and outs of the fire service taught me not only what it meant to serve my community, but what it meant to serve alongside other men and women who had the same passions as me. The comradery between firefighters inspired me to make this such an important part of my life. Every day of the academy brought me new challenges and problems to work through, each hurdle taught me a lesson that I will take with me for the rest of my life. One of my most memorable day's with my fellow cadets was towards the end of our time together, where we decided to challenge ourselves and attempt the Fight For Air Stair Climb, where we raised money for COPD and Lung Disease research. We were tasked with climbing over two thousand stairs in the summer heat, wearing all seventy pounds of our bunker gear. The climb had become our toughest hurdle yet. As I was looking across the stadium, I saw hundreds of firefighters all working towards the same goal, completing the climb together. It did not matter where each person was from across the state, we all cheered each other on as one team. My friends and I all got to the point where we wanted to quit, but in the back of my mind I remembered what my instructors had instilled in us since day one, nothing we are asked to do would be impossible. As the five of us caught up to each other on our final ten flights, in true academy fashion, we stuck together and climbed to the finish line together. This day will forever be my reminder that no matter what, anything was possible with enough determination, and trust in my team. This day also furthered my faith in the fire service and reinforced my dedication to the work that is done every day. This scholarship will aid me in my next adventure, EMT school. Emergency medicine is an equally important aspect of emergency services that is often required for firefighters to be trained in within my area. This scholarship will help me and my family cover the costs for attending school to become an EMT. I am proud of my accomplishments in the fire academy, and am excited to begin new ones when I begin class again. Becoming an EMT will help me better aid the people in my community when they are in need, while showing young students like me that our dreams are always within reach, and anything is possible.

Leadership has become a defining lesson and skill that I have developed over my senior year in high school. I have had a very interesting senior year in which I have completed my normal classes, but have also completed college classes and the fire academy. I am lucky enough to be part of a high school that allows students to dual-enroll in other schools while still completing their high school credits. I love learning and pursuing education is highly valuable yo me, and firefighting is where I truly excel. In the fire service, leadership is what can make or break and effective team. My instructors presented the opportunity to all the cadets to be promoted to officers of our class. A lengthy process of a board interview and essay application were assigned to the students who were interested. Although I was still very new to the concept of becoming a leader, I took the risk and applied to be an officer. I, along with three other cadets were selected to become the Lieutenants that would lead the other cadets of the class. Later on in the year, I was selected to be promoted to Cadet Captain of my class, where I was put in charge of the Lieutenants and their cadets. Being an officer of the class is not about being the boss, its all about being a positive roll model who can motivate and uplift their peers as we are asked to navigate very stressful and intense training situations. It was important for me to remember that I was also learning, just like the people I was put in charge of. I saw this in my leaders, even though my instructors had been working in the fire service longer than I've been alive, they reminded us that every day we learn from each other. In their eyes, their students still teach them new skill every day. I am no perfect leader, I have made mistakes and misjudged situations, but the important part is that my peers and I got together and learned from those mistakes. Together we impower each other to do very daunting tasks, like scaling ladders, crawling in dark confined spaces, presenting in front of classrooms, and facing our fears, and I am proud I was given the opportunity to coach by friends through those events, and in turn they helped me. I hope that the skills I have learned throughout this year will encourage me to do bigger and better things as I begin this new chapter of my life. This scholarship will allow me to afford my next adventure, EMT school. Emergency medicine is just as important as being a firefighter. At the end of the day, it is required that first responders are the calm face in a chaotic environment. The positive leadership I have learned from, as well as the skills I have gained along the way will hopefully allow me to become a successful first responder for my community. Earning a scholarship towards that will help me further my education in a field I am very passionate about.

The beginning of my senior year of high school was an interesting and complex way to finish off my high school career. Along with my normal high school classes, my high school helped me dual-enroll into both college classes and the fire academy. I am fortunate enough that another local high school hosts junior and senior high school students and allows us to complete the fire academy while we are still in high school. I have always felt incredibly passionate about learning, but the fire academy is where I truly excelled. At first, I was nervous about all of the daunting tasks that were put in front of me. But as I advanced through the academy, I faced many fears and became a much more confident person. There have been many tough lessons and moments along the way, but the encouragement of my peers and instructors has kept me going the entire time. A very important role model in my education is one of my instructors, she was a career firefighter and paramedic who has a world of knowledge that she loves to share with us. Until recently, women working in the fire service was frowned apon. And this was something many of my fellow female cadets have thought about as we advance closer to beginning our careers. It is very well known that being a firefighter is a "man's job", but my instructor is a fantastic example of just how amazing women are in this job field. Learning from her has helped me to not only become a more confident leader, but also encourage the young students I interact with every day. As part of the fire academy, we spend many hours educating our communities about how to lesson the risks of house fires and how to stay safe in such incidents. We visited many elementary schools and met many students, but the young girls who took interest in our classroom made me truly feel proud of how far I had come. Many of these girls had dreams of becoming firefighters too, but just like me, they felt incredibly nervous about pursuing it. They would all ask me the same thing: Can girls become firefighters too? That is when I realized how important it was that succeeding in this field also means other girls like me can excel too. I am very passionate about showing other young women that everything is possible. Its my hope that one day, young girls won't fear joining these kinds of jobs. This scholarship will help me to continue my education further as a first responder and help me and my family afford my upcoming EMT academy. I feel very passionate about serving my community and the people around me. Firefighting is often about being there for people when they need it the most. And becoming an EMT will help me pursue that objective. Serving my community as well as show other young girls their potential is very valuable to me and this scholarship will help me achieve that.

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.