In addition to their textbooks and classwork, Nicholls State University students Ira Bourg and Landon Woolridge always carry their pagers to class with them.
The small radios let these students know when it's time to take action on their other role as firefighters with the Thibodaux Volunteer Fire Department.
They're two members of the 2-year-old Nicholls Student Firefighter Association on campus, which has about 30 active members.
"We like to say we are normal students, but we do extraordinary things," said Bourg, the vice president of the association.
Last Thursday, the pair were part of the association's first time helping the university's safety offices conduct a fire drill in one of the campus apartments. The drill's team was completely made up of students and arrived in a truck decorated with a Nicholls banner.
Bourg and Woolridge said the drill gave them the opportunity to showcase the student firefighters on campus as well as emphasize the importance of safety to their peers and encourage them to take it seriously.
"It was a great opportunity for people to see the people that they're in class with and know that we actually are firefighters," he said.
Woolridge, a junior who started volunteering with Thibodaux once he graduated from high school, said it was one of the biggest steps the organization has taken on campus.
"By assisting, it showed students that this could really be happening right now, and we should take things seriously," he said.
Plus, it acted as a training tool for members of the department because they also practiced their own drills as a live scenario.
Over the years, Woolridge has participated in hundreds of calls. So far, he's run over 140 calls in 2019.
For him, serving has become a passion. His work with the department caused him to change his major from chemistry to safety management.
"It's helped me in so many ways in my career and as I develop into a graduate," he said.
He said balancing both sides of his life as a student and volunteer is a valuable skill that will serve him later on in life.
Bourg said the association has also helped recruit around 50 students to volunteer for the local fire departments. He said the students who volunteer have the opportunity to meet people who are in careers that they aspire to be in.
"Our goal of the student firefighter association is to recruit as many people as we can to the fire service but also keep the community of Nicholls and the city of Thibodaux as safe a place as possible," he said.
———
©2019 The Houma Courier, La.
Visit The Houma Courier, La. at www.houmatoday.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
