By: Arik Shams
For their senior projects, James McLaurin, Tavin Bullock, Hunter Hope, and Christopher Arroyo have decided to take learning beyond the research paper and the classroom. They have signed up for the Voluntary Fire Service Program at Oak Grove Fire Department. The program involves a course over several weeks designed to give insight into the fire fighting service. It aims to give students a general understanding of the fire service with a practical approach. This is the first time the Oak Grove Fire Department has officially hosted a program for high school seniors as part of their senior project.
James McLaurin was first interested in the idea when he received an email offering the course. Soon he was joined by three more interested candidates. For him, inspiration came from the idea of learning about such an important part of the community and gaining hands on experience about firefighting. Senior projects typically involve a research paper, a hands-on project, and a presentation of the entire project to a panel of judges. McLaurin’s senior project research paper is about the importance and proper uses of fire extinguishers. In addition to the fire service program, he plans to make a presentation to a group of children from his neighborhood demonstrating various fire safety techniques and information. Tavin Bullock became personally interested because of an unfortunate fire accident last summer that resulted in his grandmother’s house being burned down. Bullock wanted to learn as much as he could about fire safety. His research paper is about education, and he plans to put that to use as he hosts an after-school training program for young children about fire safety. Hunter Hope and Christopher Arroyo are both researching arson investigation. Hope finds the forensic science behind arson investigation fascinating, which was part of his motivation to enroll in this program. Among the four, Arroyo is the only one who is seriously considering a career in firefighting, and expects this basic experience to be very valuable in the future.
The students now go to the fire department every other week for two to three hours. They need to spend a total of 20 hours as per senior project requirements. Oak Grove Resident Firefighter James Phillips is conducting the course. The fire service course enables the students to learn the history of firefighting, the qualifications one needs to be a firefighter, duties of a firefighter, the dangers associated with being a fireman, vehicle accidents, operating firefighting equipment, donning protective gear, and various types of fires and their causes. They will also get to participate in a simulated scenario where they have to extinguish a live fire in a controlled environment. Being able to use actual firefighting gear seems to be the most exciting experience for the four seniors. “It’s really cool,” Hope said, “Putting on seventy-five pounds of gear under two minutes, getting on the truck, learning to use the equipment… it’s a great experience.” McLaurin finds the physical aspect of learning most enjoyable as well. “It gets your adrenaline running” he said.
