Northland Pioneer College celebrated Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic graduates at a ceremony at the White Mountain, Show Low campus on June 1. Graduates included Wade Johnson from Snowflake/Taylor Fire, Diego Martinez of Heber-Overgaard Fire, Edker Ahasteen of the Whiteriver Emergency Medical Services, Kimri Hurtado of White Mountain Ambulance Services, Benjamin Altop, Keith Plympton and James Meek of Pinetop Fire, and Ian Wilgus of Saint Johns Fire. Graduates were joined by family, friends, and colleagues to celebrate. Bringing a somber reality to these brave graduates’ weighty accomplishments and the path that lay before them, the slogan, “We Race the Reaper” adorned the ceremony’s congratulatory cake and printed program. NPC EMS Coordinator Michelle Prentice addressed the crowd acknowledging the student’s hard work and dedication to the rigorous program. “I am really proud of each and every one of you. We started this class when COVID-19 was still here. We were some of the only students on campus and strictly adhered to wearing masks and social distancing, all the while not really knowing if there would be clinical sites to work with. It took a lot of dedication. The only way I know how to explain paramedic class is to take all the prereqs for nursing school – blocks one, two, three and four, and shove them into a period of nine months. That is the amount of education these students have received. It is no small feat.” Northland Pioneer College offers two levels of EMT training. The training provides basic certification preparation and training providing a two-step pathway to achieve certification as an emergency medical technician. Students who complete the first step become Emergency Medical Technician’s-Basic. Students completing the second step become Emergency Medical Technician Paramedics. Upon completing the program, graduates will be eligible to take the certification tests for the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and upon successful completion will be certified by the Arizona Department of Health Services. NPC also offers a certification renewal program. For more information please contact EMS Coordinator Michelle Prentice at (928) 532-6139 or email her at michelle.prentice@npc.edu.
