Olympic Games for public service workers kick off
On Friday, June 26, over 12,000 international participants will flood Fairfax, Va. for the 2015 World Police & Fire Games, a 10-day event that includes over 60 athletic competitions for full-time firefighters, police officers, correction officers and customs officials.
While the games will showcase some of the most athletic public service workers in the world, the event will also be a chance for American University adjunct professor Carl Sheppard to combine his passion for service and education.
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Sheppard, who taught a first aid and medical emergencies class at AU this spring, will assist a retired firefighter in organizing the “Toughest Competitor Alive” event. He will also be judging the 20-foot rope climb and the pull-up event. Although this will be Sheppard’s first time attending the World Police & Fire Games, he previously worked as a member of the sports medicine staff in the Military World Games in 1995 and 1999.
Sheppard says he is particularly looking forward to watching firefighters from all over the world compete.
“I’d like to see the interaction between the all the people from the various fire departments, particularly interaction between the international firefighters,” he says.
While Sheppard works four 10-hour days at the Fire and Rescue Department, he says he has a strong passion for teaching and hopes to continue working with students in courses related to fire, medicine and health.
“My goal is to end up just teaching full-time,” Sheppard says. “I guess somewhat late in life I found that that was what I really felt passionate about. I get very excited about it. It’s very rewarding for me to do that, and not that my job here isn’t rewarding, but I feel like the impact I can have is a little more palpable in the classroom. So, hopefully I can just continue to do more and more and teach more and more things specific to my field.”
Several colleges and universities offer programs for students interested in firefighting, fire engineering or fire science, including but not limited to Eastern Kentucky University, UNC-Charlotte and Northern Virginia Community College.
At UNC-Charlotte, students who study Fire Safety Engineering learn leadership skills as well as the technical elements of fire safety.
Scott Burnette, a graduate of the UNC-Charlotte program and the Asheville, N.C. fire chief, says his experience as a student in this program taught him applicable skills and made him a stronger Fire Chief.
“I honestly believe that this program is one of the premier programs in the country,” Burnette says. “The program at UNCC included a good mixture of leadership and administration, science and technology. Most programs focus on one or the other, [but] UNCC had a good balance of both. It was wonderful experience for me.”
Daniel Norwood, a recent graduate from San Diego State University-California State University and current sports delivery manager at the United States Police & Fire Championships, also supports fire education at the university level. He says these new programs are spreading nationally and offer an opportunity for future firefighters to earn a degree for their passion.
“I’m a big advocator for it,” Norwood says. “I think it’s fantastic, and it encourages education for people that may have chosen a route of service before higher level education, so it makes a lot of sense to me.”
Norwood has been a part of the California Police Athletic Federation, an organization that worked closely with the Fairfax County Fire Department to organize the games, since his sophomore year of college. He started out as a volunteer in 2012 and ultimately earned a paid position on staff. In 2013, Norwood traveled to Ireland for the World Police & Fire Games. He says he is excited to be in Fairfax for this year’s competition.
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“World Police and Fire Games occur every two years, and they bounce city to city,” he says. “I was a member of the staff in 2013, which is when it was in Belfast, Northern Ireland -- it was a great experience. The Fairfax team has known that these games would be happening since 2009 and they have been preparing for the past six years.”
Jeremy Purcell, president and founder of Fairfax Athletics, a large-scale co-ed adult sports league, says Fairfax offers an ideal location for the games because of the abundance of field space, hotels and transportation options. The event is expected to draw more participants than the 2012 Olympic Games, according to Purcell. He says his staff will be working hard to ensure that all athletes enjoy a safe and exciting event.
“We will be on site making sure everything runs smoothly, all the scores are reported correctly, rules are being followed and making sure everyone has fun.”
Shannon Scovel is a student at American University and a summer 2015 Paste BN Collegiate Correspondent.
This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.