star stories

1.      I have seen the effects of team work during my 3 seasons as a fire fighter. Especially during my first season in the hand crew. When we were called to a fire, we were told the situation and then had to hike to our designated spot on the fire. When we arrived at the location, we dug a trench around the fire. Our crew usually consisted of about 20 or more people. About 5to 8 people used Pulaski’s, a tool used to dig into the ground and cut roots, and the other half used scraping tools to remove the debris and get to pure dirt. With this set up we were very efficient and were able to get the job done quickly. Thus the outcome was that we stopped the fire from spreading any further.

2.       When I was in high school I worked at a local dairy, and confronted many challenges, or so thought of them as challenges at my age. I would always have hoses or pipes break, that I would have to replace or get the owner to fix. Sometimes it was a quick fix and other times it took hours. But the biggest challenge I faced was when I was bringing the cows up to be milked and I didn’t close a gate, which emptied onto a local road. The cows started spreading in every direction. I called my boss and told him what had happened; I then got on my motorcycle and herded some of the cows back toward the barn. When I herded the cows closer some friends that were passing by helped me get them in. This in return resulted, in me continuing to milk the cows and get the job done on time.  

3.      A couple of years ago I was able to realize a goal that I had been working towards for years. It was to serve as a full time volunteer for the church that I am a part of. There were a lot of parts that played into fulfilling my goal. One of the main parts that I had to accomplish before I even started the service was the financial part of it. Since it was a voluntary service I had to save enough money to be able to go. When I was about 17 I realized that my job at the dairy was not going to be sufficient enough to save the amount that I needed. So I started to look for opportunities in the community that would help me save up for the amount I needed. I was interested in the wild land fire job, and knew that with that job I would make more than the amount that I needed. I just happened that my boss’s son in-law had worked at the station I wanted to work at; he put a good word in for me at the station. I got the job and was able to save more that the amount I needed. This resulted in me being able to be a volunteer for two years in Brazil. I was able to accomplish this through networking.