During the month of February, I was given the opportunity to interview for the Fire Science and EMT CTE at Manchester School of Technology. I was able to hear how it came to be and the meaning of the program it has on the students. Although this program isn’t as well known as some of the others, I got to see and hear just how amazing this program is and how much the students love it. I hope that after you read this, whether you’re a student or parent, you’ll consider signing up for this program next year.
Leo Roy, a retired lieutenant from Manchester Fire, is the instructor and coordinator for this program. Mr. Roy was approached in the early 1990s to assist in putting together the Fire Explorer Training Academy by the Daniel Webster Council. He states that it was “very successful.”. They started in New England College until the New Hampshire Fire Academy was built, finished in 1995, and once the Academy was adopted he retired from it. To this day, the Academy still stands as it continues to educate many youths in Fire. He continued serving in Manchester at the Manchester Fire Department until his sister, who is involved at Manchester School of Technology, asked him if he would be interested in doing a moulage for the Criminal Justice and Health Science CTEs that they were doing since he loved Halloween a lot. Agreeing to do so, he had done it for a couple of years up till MST wanted to expand their CTE offerings and Mr. Roy offered the idea of doing Fire Science. And just a couple of years later, it got started.
Mr. Roy teaches his students knowing that his students are the next generation and he wants to be able to contribute to them and their future. His program offers the students a much different experience than the other high schools. While these other high schools in New Hampshire may offer a program related to Fire Science, it is only an exploratory program. At the Manchester School of Technology, his program is a certificate program. He also states that, “We are still the only ones in the state that do a two-year program in one year.” Here you get to spend two blocks in the program with a higher passing rate than the others.
For those interested in this program, Mr. Roy says, “Anybody with a really strong altruistic gene in their body that really wants to go and help people, should take this class.” Although you get to jump out of windows and climb buildings, you get a certificate that opens a large variety of doors. You get to learn about emergency services, a first-sight view as you work with the Manchester Fire Department, and if you’re someone who needs your hours on an Ambulance then you can get them done a lot easier here as the rates are much higher here in the City of Manchester.
After talking to Mr. Roy, I got to get the thoughts of the program from a few students. Abby and Dominique shared with me that throughout this year, they have learned an incredible amount and enjoyed going on ride-a-longs, jumping out of windows, and visiting the Academy. They are offered a chance to get a job right out of high school and the skills to do the job right. This program has shown that they can make an impact on their community. You as a student are taught a large variety of important skills. Dominique expresses, “It’s great to help out your community, it’s great to be conscious of the things going on in your community as well.” They took this program because they didn’t know where they wanted to go in the future and if this was something they wanted to do. “You don’t even need to know what you want to do, I mean this class is just a fun course to take too,” Abby says.
Another student, Marion, took this class after finishing Criminal Justice. Marion is still unsure of what career she wants to go into, but she does know she wants to help people and she took Fire Science with that goal in mind. She has become more confident in herself while being in this class. “I learned to not just give up.” she said as she explained to me that eventually a person will succeed. Marion really enjoys this class and would love for others to take it as well. This class gives students like herself a once-in-a-lifetime experience, far more unique than others. The MST Fire Science class gives students like herself a certificate for Fire 1, allowing you to go straight into the workforce in most cases. One of the main things she gets excited about when thinking of this class is the Bailing Out Procedure where the students are put into a life-or-death situation where they escape a burning building through a window.
I am honored to have been able to learn about this program in my school and hope that more people will consider taking this class. Mr. Roy and the students I interviewed provided great advice and an idea of what their class is like.
