School achievements, community service, leadership, and/or work experience: 

With the Ida Baker Fire Academy, I have spent a considerable amount of time volunteering with the wonderful people at Golisano’s Children Hospital. Participating annually with the Clips for Cancer, Christmas toy drives and the Porsche and Friends parade. With the Cape Coral Fire Department, I have participated and volunteered annually with the CCFD Open House Events, the Touch a Truck Event, the Battle of the Badges Softball Tournament, and the City of Cape Coral annual food drive. The City of Cape Coral’s 911 Remembrance Ceremony. With the Ida Baker High School Baseball team, I have volunteered at the annual Kona/Saladino Youth Park with their youth baseball camps, as well as the Pelican Elementary Christmas festival and Christmas with the Grinch. I have also worked at D&D Bait and Tackle Shop, where I completed over 108 community service hours. Each and every one of these opportunities has been very memorable experiences for me. I have spent over 300+ hours volunteering with fishing charters. 

However, one organization has and always will hold a special place in my heart, Fish with a Hero. This organization provides U.S. veterans and first responders all expensed paid charter fishing trips. After all these people have done and sacrificed for our country and the local community, the opportunity to pay a fraction of that back through a fishing charter was a surreal experience. Having the experience of meeting many of our communities’ heroes and a chance to bond with them over our beautiful outdoors right here in Southwest Florida. Many of the heroes talked about how just one fishing trip has helped them feel so much more relaxed. I love volunteering and will always continue to do so.

I am also enrolled in the Southwest Florida Fire Academy working to earn my fire one degree before graduation considerable amount of time volunteering with many local organizations. With the Ida Baker Fire Academy, I have spent a considerable amount of time volunteering with the wonderful people at Golisano’s Children Hospital.

As a resident of Cape Coral, describe an issue facing our city (or youth) and how you would solve it?

A growing problem I see as a resident of Cape Coral is students graduating high school typically do not know what route to take next. This leads to unemployment, a much lower earning potential, and a decrease in motivation as students feel lost without structure. I am a senior at Ida S. Baker High school in Cape Coral. My school has a unique infrastructure with the “academy” system that allows seniors to earn certifications for different work fields prior or in sync with graduation. These opportunities allow for students to get their foot in the door or even have the chance at an entry level job upon graduation. I have seen this firsthand as I am in the fire academy at my school, this academy has taught me many helpful traits and has prepared me with my fire one certification while I am still in high school. This gets me much closer to becoming a full-time firefighter and I haven’t even walked the stage yet. It doesn’t stop at firefighting, my school offers academies in welding, teaching, nursing, automotive and even criminal justice. I can say with firsthand experiences that these academies work wonders in getting students lined up to make the correct career choices upon graduation. With that being said, I would solve the issue of our youth’s lack of career preparation upon graduation by implementing these academies in all Cape Coral high schools. I truly do believe based on personal experience and the hundreds of students who have been through academies that they give you a serious strong foundation into adult life. The addition of academies in all Cape Coral high schools would give the city of Cape Coral more job ready young men and women.

What is your passion and how did you discover it?

Growing up I liked a lot of things, fishing, video games, boating, etc. Something I was not very fond of was firefighting. Although I was exposed to firefighting since birth as my father worked as a Cape Coral firefighter for 30 years, I was not a fan of the job. The only reason for this being that every third day of my childhood my dad was not home. At the time it always felt like firefighting was taking a third of the time I have with my dad away. This feeling changed in elementary school when my mom got diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Suddenly my mom, who always watched my sister and I while my dad was on shift was completely unable to. My dad then had to pick up more shifts to help cover the chemotherapy bills. I then started to meet a lot of new babysitters, not people I was familiar with but claimed to know me when I was in diapers. My newly introduced “uncles” were some of the best people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They would always take my sister and I to places and we would have so much fun we would forget the situation at home. In the fall, the “Pink Heals” a firetruck painted pink who hosted special events to raise money for breast cancer research landed down in our hometown of Cape Coral. My mom, dad, sister, and I got to go to the event. The second I stepped foot at the place I realized that all of my new “uncles” weren’t just babysitters, they were all firemen. The second I noticed that I realized that was what I wanted to be a part of, a brotherhood who has your back no matter what, firefighting.