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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — Anthony Vinson may be the only high school senior in Central Illinois who's already found his second calling.
"I've wanted to be at least a volunteer (firefighter) as long as I can remember," said Vinson, of Secor. "I'm a probationary firefighter for Secor, (but) I switched from wanting to be a volunteer only to wanting to get into full-time."
Vinson, a student at El Paso-Gridley High School, now plans to go to Illinois Central College to study fire science, thanks to the Bloomington Area Career Center.
Vinson is one of about 450 BACC students from 16 local high schools getting a head start on college or a career across a dozen vocations, with more on tap.
An increasingly large part of those programs are local professionals who serve as mentors and partners to students, said BACC Director Tom Frazier.
"My goal is to keep things relevant for students so we're preparing them for today's and tomorrow's jobs, and partnerships are a huge part," he said.
With their help, he said, the center is — while still offering college dual credits and skills students can use outside their careers — for many students, not just an alternative path to college but a better one.
B-N partnerships
One of BACC's newest programs, Fire Science simply would not exist without early buy-in from the Bloomington and Normal fire departments.
Both departments allow students to use their facilities and equipment for specialized training that's too expensive for the center to support, and hiring former local firefighters to teach "put that dose of reality" into the course, Frazier said.
Vinson said he learned a tremendous amount about the history, day-to-day procedure, and legal and ethical issues of firefighting from his instructors' experience. The course also covers fire progression and chemistry.
NFD Public Information Officer Matt Swaney said it's a no-brainer for current firefighters to get involved as well.
"We'd love to see this program eventually lead to these young men and women choosing a career in fire service, and if it's local that's even better," he said.
To that end, each department offers training both in general basic skills and in its specialties. Swaney said BFD's hazardous materials training and NFD's technical rescue training offer unusual types of experience to the program's about 80 students.
"We went to stations three days a week. I was a little surprised at how much we actually got to do," Vinson said. "It started out with basics — how to load a hose. A couple of stations had obstacle courses. After a while we started using Bloomington's training tower. We were able to do more in that, like forcing open doors."
Swaney said "rural communities around us will benefit because these men and women will leave the program with an emergency medical certification at the basic level."
Frazier recommends juniors take Fire Science so they can graduate to EMT Basic (emergency medical technician) as seniors, as Vinson did, and pass a state exam to receive certification at the end of their high school years.
Vinson said without that option, it would be very difficult for him to complete a $2,000 certification course and become qualified for better jobs including, Swaney said, any at NFD.
Health field opportunities
While Fire Science students practice techniques to help them should an emergency arise, Nurse Assistant and Advanced CNA (certified nursing assistant) students do even more: get in the trenches of the health field.
The McLean County Nursing Home and Westminster Village retirement community offer the center's CNA students chances to interact with their patients, reinforcing medical skills and developing their bedside manner.
Cathy Scanlon-Still, director of nurses at McLean County Nursing Home, said visits from students doing clinical training — three groups of 15 visit for an hour four days per week — don't allow the home to assign staff any differently but do offer fresh energy to the nurses on hand.
"For my staff it's really rewarding to see (students) growing through the year," she said. "The benefit for me is you might recognize students who do well and remember them when they come looking for a job."
Scanlon-Still said the residents also enjoy interacting with the students. During a recent visit, 91-year-old Dorothy Pulaski and 95-year-old Amaree Johnson chatted up Tri-Valley High School junior Tristen Hall and El Paso-Gridley junior Taylor Rarick as the students took their vitals.
Sara Roper, a 2009 Normal Community High graduate, said the two-year program helped her "see what different settings of health care there are" to guide her career.
"I did (clinical rotations) in the (obstetrics) setting of (Advocate BroMenn Medical Center)," she said. "I got to help in the birth of babies and in the nursery. You have to be certified to get in the door, so it was very cool to get that experience at such a young age."
Roper worked as a CNA and is now in her second year studying to become a physician's assistant through Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She said she "would have needed to work a lot longer" to get where she is without BACC.
"It was so important to get patient contacts and experience. Also I got great letters of recommendation and scholarship recommendations," she said.
Learning to design
For Mike and Susan Temple of Bloomington, the question isn't why to help BACC but why not.
Mike was in vocational training when he was in high school, so it's near and dear to his heart," Susan Temple said. "It's important to help and provide opportunities for (students)."
The Temples helped BACC's Civil Engineering and Architecture program by offering a real-life place to design. Students have visited, measured and mocked-up new layouts for a property the Temples co-own at 921 Maple Hill Road, better known as the old Country Kitchen restaurant.
Bloomington High School senior Miles Riley said working with the space has taken the architectural design lessons he's learned in class, including 3D modeling and drafting skills on industry-standard programs, to a new level.
He plans to use that experience as he pursues a degree in engineering and technology from SIUC.
"It's very fun to see real things you've designed printed out," he said. "This is the closest thing to real-world experience you can get without getting paid."
Bridge to a career
Frazier hopes to continue to expand BACC's community partnerships in its current classes and in new ones.
Kevin Schafer, who will teach Computer Maintenance Technology when it kicks off for 2015-2016, hopes to get his students into local school district IT departments to build their experience and to cut district costs.
The next generation of students, meanwhile, is equally drawn to those partnerships.
"I don't really know what I'm good at or what I'm going to do, but this is a good way to explore," NCHS sophomore Preston McCormick said during a BACC open house.
Frazier thinks more partners can help the career center become even more effective in its mission and benefit the local economy.
"It's giving kids a unique opportunity. Four-year college isn't for everybody," Schafer said. "This is not necessarily a bridge to a university. It's a bridge to a career."
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Source: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, http://bit.ly/1uaxNJ4
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Information from: The Pantagraph, http://www.pantagraph.com
This is an Illinois Exchange story offered by The (Bloomington) Pantagraph.
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