Student Profiles

Shortly after graduating from The National Center for Outdoor and Adventure Education’s Intensive Hybrid EMT course, Will Newman began working for Pender EMS and Fire in Burgaw, North Carolina, as an EMT. He recently completed orientation and is eager to serve the rural communities of Pender County as a medical provider.

Will credits his instructors at NCOAE for their ongoing commitment to his success after graduation, highlighting one instructor in particular for their continued communication and help in securing employment at an EMS agency. He noted that the dedication of our instructors to their students’ success is what makes our EMT training programs so unique.

Additionally, this North Carolina native continues to volunteer at the emergency department in nearby Scott’s Hill, where he has applied many of his new EMT skills. Will’s long-term goal is to attend medical school, and he plans to apply during the next application cycle.

NCOAE’s Ongoing Education Opportunities

If you’re wondering, the NCOAE 21-day Hybrid EMT certification course is as intensive as it sounds. It meets the eligibility requirements for the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and offers reciprocity for state EMT credentials. The course includes 10 days of virtual instructor-led training and 11 days of hands-on practical skills training at our east coast location in Wilmington, NC.

As a pre-med student in college, Will was inspired to pursue his EMT credentials while volunteering at an emergency department. There, he observed EMS providers in action, sparking his interest in emergency medical services. Aiming to become a physician, Will believes working in a pre-hospital setting will help him become a strong patient advocate.

He acknowledges NCOAE EMT instructors David, Phillip, Kate, and Blake for bringing classroom instruction to life by integrating their personal emergency services experience with the course material. This dynamic approach enabled Will to quickly earn his credential and secure employment after graduation.

Will’s future opportunities at Pender EMS and Fire include joining the agency’s special operations teams, such as swift water rescue, for which he plans to apply once he gains more experience as an EMT.

If you’d like to have the kind of emergency service career that Will has, start with the NCOAE 21-day Hybrid EMT certification course. And if you’re planning on applying to medical school, read “Gaining the Clinical Experience to Get into Med School: EMT Training and Direct Patient Care,” here on the NCOAE blog.

Tina Currin’s dance card remains full after completing our 27-day Hybrid Wilderness EMT course this past March. For starters, Tina is currently wrapping up the Triple Crown of American long-distance hiking. In fact, she’s about 1,600 miles into the Continental Divide Trail, which runs the length of the Rockies — from Canada to Mexico.

“I should be done in about a month, by which point I’ll have hiked more than 10,000 miles on National Scenic Trails across the USA,” she recently told us. We should note that traversing the Divide isn’t the first of her long-distance backpacking rodeos. Tina’s also tackled the Appalachian & Pacific Crest Trails, as well as major trail systems in Arizona, Florida and throughout New England.

Depending on the season, Tina is a freelance writer, National Park Service (NPS) Ranger, and a long-distance backpacker. She’s worked as a ski liftie, spent a summer season guiding cave tours, and organized large-scale charity events and bike races.

Professionally, Tina has created content for the NPS’ social media accounts and currently contributes articles to NPS.gov. She also writes blog posts and conducts product testing for Hyperlite Mountain Gear and Nashville Pack and Equipment Company. And she occasionally contributes what she terms “grainy photographs” to Outside Magazine.

Why Tina Chose NCOAE’s W-EMT Course

So, with a schedule that makes her feel “like a strange assemblage of a zillion somewhat-related skills stuffed inside a hiker’s body,” why did this backcountry wonder carve out a full month of time for NCOAE’s intensive W-EMT training program?

Tina said the reason she signed up for the (more…)

If Gordon Harrison’s name sounds familiar to you, that likely means one of two things: You either know him personally or you’re a fan of the water sport known as wakeboarding.

David “Gordon” Harrison (the third) recently graduated from one of our 19-Day ‘Intensive’ EMT-Basic training courses. And as you probably figured out by now, this native of Caroline County, Va. (who now calls Melbourne Beach, Fla. his home), holds the distinction of being the only professional athlete to enroll in that course — or any course for that matter here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education.

Harrison started wakeboarding as a child and become good enough in high school to be invited by the World Wake Association to join the Jr. Pro Wakeboard Tour. Suffice to say, he’s never looked backward since.

For the uninitiated, wakeboarding is a water-based sport in which the athlete — standing on a short board with foot bindings known as a wakeboard— is towed behind a motorboat across its wake, allowing the athlete to crest the wake for aerial maneuvers. In Harrison’s case, he’s so proficient at wakeboarding that he’s only one of a handful of people on the planet capable of making a living as a professional wakeboarder.

So, what possesses someone living the life of a pro athlete to drop everything and spend 19 days with us in North Carolina preparing to sit to for the NREMT (National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians) exam? That’s what we wanted to know. Here’s what Harrison had to say, in his own words: (more…)