Canyon Lake Firefighters Offer Fire and EMT Scholarship to CLHS Student
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The Canyon Lake Professional Firefighters Association (CLPFA) is accepting scholarship applications from Canyon Lake High School (CLHS) students who want to attend a fire and emergency medical technician (EMT) school in Texas and become firefighters after they graduate.
To qualify, students must:
- Be currently enrolled at CLHS as a senior or 2021 graduate.
- Maintain a GPA of 2.5 or greater.
- Complete a scholarship application through CLHS.
- Pass a physical fitness exam.
- Complete an interview process.
Applications must be completed by Dec. 17. For more information, click here.
In October, Canyon Lake firefighter Charles Richard said the association wants to give back to the community by showing Canyon Lake High School students who don’t want to attend four-year college there are other options besides joining the military or working in trades.
Students who opt to serve their community as firefighters enjoy good pay, benefits, and the chance to “retire” at age 38.
But firefighter school costs $6,000.
The association wants to make sure the student they send to Texas Fire Academy can handle the rigors of the job.
Applicants will be asked to prove their mettle by going through a mock hiring process that doesn’t include taking a written test, although CLPFA will consider students’ grade-point averages.
Firefighters want to see what they’re really made of and will be asked to take a physical fitness test and pass a board interview, “what you would do to get a fire job gives us a good look at applicants and gives them a good practice run to get a real job after they graduate,” Richard said.
The majority of students who wash out of fire academy can’t meet physical-fitness requirements or panic when blindfolded and asked to perform searches inside buildings.
“People drop out all of the time because they can’t hack it,” he said. “One of the main things for us is leadership qualities and humility. We want a candidate that’s 18 and ready to learn but is still capable of leadership qualities.”
When they graduate, CLHS students can enjoy the same satisfaction CLPFA members do — helping their community immediately.
“EMS fire service is a very valid option for an 18-year-old,” Richard said. “I feel like that’s not something that’s thought of every day. We want, as members of the line crew, to directly impact the community and this was the best way we knew how.”
