Fire academy celebrates graduation of first class
(Photo Courtesy/Jess Rupert) Firefighters take an oath as part of their graduation ceremony on Thursday night.
Alpena, Mich. — Thursday night was a celebration of hard work and dedication over at Alpena Community College.
13 volunteer firefighters walked across the stage certified and ready to serve in local communities. These students are the first to graduate from firefighter academy at the college.
Course manager and Alpena Township Fire Chief Dave Robbins addressed the class along with several other key note speakers. The graduates are now certified to respond to calls and help keep the Sunrise Side safe.
“For the most part, our community is volunteer firefighters, and to know that they went through seven months of two nights a week and all of these Saturdays and now they are going to be on call all of the time for fire situations, it’s very humbling because these are folks who volunteer their time to protect us as community members, ” said Dawn Stone, director of workforce development at Alpena Community College.
ACC has become a regional training center for firefighters, so expect to see more students cross the stage for years to come.
