More than 30 high school students competed in the annual “Best of the Best High School Firefighter Challenge” at the Poway Fire Training Tower on Saturday.
The event is meant to teach and enhance each student’s firefighting and life skills, along with bringing them one step closer to becoming a first responder.
“We have Orange Glen, Lincoln High School, and Health Sciences High and they’re competing in five different events,” Nicholas Swift, founder of the non-profit 1904 Cadets, said.
The events are geared towards real life scenarios such as navigating through confined spaces and rescuing a person.
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“We are developing the next generation of first responders. In my 11 years of working at Health Sciences High, we’ve now identified that we can start working with students at the High School level, particularly ninth grade. We can start to change the way in which the learning occurs to be [more] prepared, so when they graduate high school, they have industry certifications and they’re gainfully employed,” Swift said.
One of the students, Vicky Macias, is on the path towards becoming a first responder.
“I want to get my credentials and go from there to being a paramedic and if life goes good and I feel good, I’m going to go ahead and go for a fire program,” Macias said.
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For the students that do not become a first responder, partners and organizers believe they still learn important life skills.
“They’re not only learning education and real-world life skills, [but] they’re also learning discipline, they’re learning hard work, and they’re gaining self-esteem and self-respect. Whether these students go onto be firefighters or paramedics, [the] bare minimum, they’re going to go on to be good citizens,” Eric Nixon, community relations coordinator of American Medical Response, said.
The next annual challenge will include an emergency medical services portion in addition to the firefighting challenge.
