Andy, what did you study at Middlebury and what have you done since you left?
I was a Biology major at Midd and intially I taught Life Science to 7th graders. I got bored, wanted some action, and wanted to serve my community in a more direct and physical way. I fought brush fires in California for two seasons before relocating to Washington state. I became a firefighter in 2000.

What did you learn at Middlebury that impacted your professional experience the most?
I think being at Middlebury made me slow down and realize what’s important in life for me. Service!

If you were to offer a few words of wisdom to a Middlebury student aspiring to be an ER Nurse, what would they be?
Words of wisdom: Limit your screw ups with regard to legal stuff because the background checks to become firefighter are brutally in depth and there’s a lot of disqualifiers out there. Keep up the work in school because it pays off in the interview process. There’s no better career to be on the ground floor of what real people are doing in the world.

We live pretty sheltered lives at Middlebury but if you want to experience real life and real people with real problems and help those people than the fire service is for you.