Roaring Fork High School senior Hank Cerrone admits he’s not a big fan of high school, but an opportunity offered by his school, the Carbondale Fire Department and Colorado Mountain College (CMC), may very well secure a future career for him.

“I’m the kind of person who likes to really jump onto things,” said Cerrone, who’s looking to enlist in the U.S. Army as a medic after he graduates next month.

CMC’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and firefighter training courses are offered in partnership with local fire districts and the Roaring Fork School District to be taken by high school seniors concurrently with their regular classes.

“Having the chance to learn about what this field looks like has really opened my eyes to a possible career path,” Cerrone said.

While he’d prefer to hone his skills in the military, rather than following the volunteer training path toward a full-time position if he were to stay in the Roaring Fork Valley, he said he does hope to one day bring his emergency medical skills back home.

Jennifer Taylor is the training captain for the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District, and one of the course instructors along with Morgan Huffnus, lead EMS instructor for CMC’s Carbondale and Aspen campuses.

She also got her start in emergency services as a high schooler.

“I was going to be a teacher, but then I got sucked into volunteering for the local ambulance and fire department because I thought it would be good for scholarships,” Taylor said. “And then I just never left.

“So, I understand where these kids are coming from,” she added. “And it’s such a great career path, if this is what they choose to do.”

Taylor notes that first responder agencies across the country are short-handed, as a lot of older, experienced people are retiring and there are not enough younger recruits.

“It’s becoming a national crisis for how we’re going to get these boots filled,” she said.

To begin addressing that concern locally, three years ago CMC, the school district and Carbondale Fire came together to start the concurrent enrollment program for local high school students.

For the first two years, basic fire and emergency medical responder (EMR) courses introduced students to the first responder world.

This year, the more expansive Introduction to Emergency Services was added, which covers a variety of related career opportunities, including law enforcement and emergency dispatch. Older students who have already turned 18 can also take the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class.

Huffnus said the program has grown in recent years, especially as more class options were added.

“It’s fun to get them started on this path a little bit early, so that when they graduate high school, they can go test and maybe jump right into an IV [intravenous] class, and they’re very hireable after that,” Huffnus said. 

Roaring Fork seniors Emerson Kennedy and Morgan Fink both plan to expand upon what they’ve learned through the CMC program as they go on to college.

Kennedy took a pair of wildland firefighting courses last summer, and enrolled in the EMT course with an eye toward studying fire science at the University of Montana.

Because he’s a type one diabetic, he wasn’t sure if he could go into the emergency services field.

“Working with my instructors in these classes, it taught me that I can be in the EMS field and do some of these cool things that we’ve learned about,” he said.

Fink said she took the EMT course at the suggestion of a friend, and it didn’t take long for her to realize that it wasn’t just fun, it could also be a career path for her.

“I’ll be going to Fort Lewis College in Durango next year, and I’m hoping to get on with their volunteer fire department,” she said. “The more time I spend with it, the more passionate I become about it. I’m really grateful for this opportunity, and to not be limited by my age.”

Kalin Loeffler is a senior at Glenwood Springs High School who interned with the Glenwood Springs Fire Department during the fall semester.

“I’ve been interested in being a firefighter since I was three years old,” he said. “I plan on going to Colorado Mesa for a two-year fire science program, with hopes of coming back here to the Valley to work.”

Taylor wishes she’d had the same opportunity when she was still in high school.

“To be able to create a path for these young people to enter our career field is huge for us as a community, and for fire and emergency medical services as a whole,” she said.