A program that brought the Overland Park Fire Department and Blue Valley School District students together has come full circle.
This fall, two Blue Valley graduates officially started their firefighting career with the City of Overland Park.
Before putting on the patch, they’d been working toward this day for years, training through the Blue Valley Fire Science Career Ready Program.
Students learn entry-level first responder skills, such as fire science, emergency medical first aid, CPR and more.
They attend class during the school day at fire department facilities.
Students earn high school and sometimes even college credit for their work.
The program helps more students consider a career in public service during a time when the Fire Department is working hard to recruit more staff but the number of applicants for public safety jobs has been declining.
New Overland Park Firefighters Ben Seitz and Gabe Spachman took advantage of the opportunity.
“It’s not like a normal job, and that’s very apparent the first day you start in the program,” said Seitz. “I got to learn about all the connections, I got to meet basically the whole department in one way or another and got to understand everybody and the culture here. I got to work hard and show them that I wanted to be here.”
Fire department staff double as instructors in the program. They know not every student who tries the program out will want to be a firefighter for life.
The program also teaches students skills that apply to any career – communication, teamwork, problem-solving skills and more.
“It’s been great to see some students find a real interest in this program, stick with it, find a real interest in the Overland Park Fire Department, and then see it through to this point that we’re going from high school students in our program to employees of the OPFD,” said Adam Wessell, director of Career-Ready Programs at Blue Valley School District.
Wessell is looking forward to inviting Seitz and Spachman back to the class to show younger students the opportunity ahead of them.
“It feels like an investment in our community,” said Overland Park Deputy Fire Chief Brad Cusick. “We’re partnering with the local school district to take local school kids and give them a career right out of high school. It’s a good-paying career, a long-term career and they get to live and serve in the community they grew up in. We take a lot of pride in that.”