New this year, we are going to have a student spotlight known as Principally Yours: Getting to Know Our Students.
I first met Dakoda Rosa in the lunchroom schooling a fellow student in Chess. Intrigued by his excellent skills in Chess, we played a couple rounds together. It is such a great opportunity for the Principal to learn about the students at MCS. As part of this experience, I would learn that Dakoda is a volunteer Firemen for the Arkville Fire Department. He became interested in volunteering 6 years ago by his father. Dakoda’s father has served in the Arkville Fire Department nearly 25 years. This is a family tradition to serve their local community as his brother Shawn also serves on the Fire Department. All together, 5 family members have served in the fire department. I learned that volunteering is a big part of Rosa's family tradition. His grandfather started the tradition by serving for an estimated 50+ years.
Volunteering is a crucial part of community service. MCS encourages our students to take advantage of experiences. It is so important that school districts in rural communities encourage helping our local Volunteer Fire Departments. They are in need of new recruits.
As part of our learning, we talked about Dakoda’s long-term plans. I let Dakoda know about opportunities that can come from being a Volunteer Firemen in the State of New York. We discovered that Under FASNY (Firefighters Association of the State of New York), a student/volunteer firefighter who hasn’t already achieved an associate’s degree or higher will be eligible to have up to 100% of his/her tuition reimbursed. There is no restriction on the type of academic course(s) that the FASNY helps student/volunteer firefighters. They can pursue it on a full-time or part-time basis.
This could be a game changer for Dakoda and many students like him at MCS. It is collaborations like this that help make a community improve the quality of life for everyone.