Left to right: Stephanie Gates, Colton Cushman ‘25, Alex Randall ‘25, JT Wint ‘25. Photo by Sasha Luhur ‘27
Northwood has four members taking part in an EMT class offered at North Country Community College. They include Alex Randall ‘25, Colton Cushman ‘25, JT Wint ‘25, and staff member Stephanie Gates, the Executive Assistant to the Head of School and Board of Trustees and HR Manager.
EMT stands for Emergency Medical Technician, a certification and training program for someone interested in the medical field. The basic certification requires about 180 hours of training with a mix of classroom and hands-on practical skills and time in the field to obtain 10 patient contacts. Someone who completes the course and passes the necessary exams for New York State and/or the national registry (NREMT) could get a job with any EMS agency, whether it be commercial, like American Medical Response (AMR), or private, like the Lake Placid Volunteer Ambulance Service, or to be a firefighter/EMT.
This year’s school theme is balance, and taking this course requires a lot of time and commitment during a busy school year. I asked my EMT classmates why they chose to take on this challenge and how they manage their schoolwork, co-curricular activities, and—in Mrs. Gates’s case—a full-time job.
“I was interested in doing the EMT course, because it is an opportunity to help people,” Randall said. “It is an opportunity to get knowledge in an area that I don’t have any other qualifications in. Through the National Registry, I can basically work anywhere, no matter where I go to college in the United States,” he added. On the question of balance, Alex also said, “It’s not that hard. I don’t find it that hard yet, just because school hasn’t really picked up. I view it as another class and so when I have free time to work on homework, that is one of the homework assignments I work on.”
“I’ve wanted to do it for a long time, and I’ve always put it off because I’ve been so busy with different things, but the last two years, I’ve been taking care of an ill uncle who’s had to have some amputations done, and he’s got major heart issues,” Gates said. “That has made me want to learn more, and I decided there’s no better time than right now.” Her comment about being both a staff member at Northwood and taking this life-changing class was, “I just have to make the time for myself if there’s something that’s important to me. It’s not easy. I think I’ve found that I have to make time for this because it’s so important to me, but yet my job is very important to me as well.”
They will be very busy with this significant commitment through the end of January 2025, and we wish them good luck.
