BY VICTORIA WILKINSON
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Former Roseville High School student Joe Mailey is currently training to become a firefighter after being inspired while taking a CTE class (formerly known as ROP) class involving the concepts of fire science/firefighting. Joe is now at the fire academy in Monterey and has been interviewing at Cal Fire for summer work. 

Joe used the class as a way to determine whether firefighting was for him and give him a taste of the field.

“I tried out the program to see if it was for me and I have been hooked ever since,” Joe said.

The ROP class clarified Joe’s asspirations to him and his family.

“After taking the class, it was clear it was not a phase,” Joe’s mother Vickie Mailey said.

Joe, now at the fire academy, is revisiting things he previously did in the ROP class that everybody else in the academy is just now learning for the first time, giving Joe an advantage.

“I look around at everybody else that is in this academy with me and I realize that everything we’re learning in this academy, I’ve already been exposed to,” Joe said.

In the fire science class, students have an opportunity to get their foot in the door and make connections with other people in the industry to help their future.

“Not only does the program set you up for success and help you make the decision whether or not it’s for you, it also gets your name out there,” Joe said.

According to Joe, firefighters all around the area know each other, which could be beneficial to getting started in the industry.

“It gets your name out there so if you leave a good impression at the city you’re interning at chatter goes around,” Joe said.

The program involves in-class teaching, as well as hands on experience in a fire station. Students get the opportunity to learn about emergency medical training and the fundamentals of firefighting in the first quarter and then in the second, students are placed in a fire station where they are able to intern.

“You get exposed to the medical portion of the fire service, you get exposed to the technical portion of the fire service,” Joe said. “You work with the firefighters and you run calls with them.”

Vickie supports Joe in his career path knowing that it is always what he has wanted to do.
“He loved it and gave it his all. It was crazy hard work, physically and in class but he took to it like a natural path,” Vickie said. “The field is an honorable one, any parent would be proud.”

Friends of Joe also are supportive in his decision and know of his passion.

“For as long as I have known Joe he has been very committed, he is really dedicated to being a firefighter,” RHS senior Will Schabb said.
According to Joe, taking the class helps students to decide whether or not they are equipped for this career.

“You get exposed to a lot more early on that can really make the decision whether or not this is the right career for you not only physically, but mentally as well,” Joe said.

According to College and Career Center technician Jacquie Seider, and Vickie they agree with Joe in that such classes are very beneficial to students who are indecisive about their future and offers students unique opportunities.

“I personally think the ROP programs are a vital part of a kid finding their path to the future,” Vickie said.