FDNY: Student Mentoring

Published: January 19, 2015 FDNY and NYC Service Mentor High School Students for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service  FDNY members mentor high school students at FDNY Headquarters Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, NYC Service Chief Service Officer Paula Gavin and FDNY members hosted speed mentoring events for high school students to celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service Jan. 19. “Mentors are absolutely crucial to educate, provide support and set an example for young people to follow,” Commissioner Nigro said during one of the events at FDNY Headquarters. “FDNY members are proud to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., by taking part in this important service project.” The students are enrolled at the Coro New York Leadership Center, James Madison High School, the High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology, New Utrecht High School, Williamsburg Preparatory High School and Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance. They received college and career advice during several 15-minute interactions with panels of FDNY professionals.  “There’s so much negative going on in the world, it’s easy to be discouraged,” Firefighter Jonathan Logan, Squad 270, said. “But today, many people stepped up to volunteer to help people they didn’t know. It was great to see.” And, he said, the FDNY mentors got as much out of the experience as the teenagers. “I was there to encourage these young people, but I wound up getting encouraged by them,” Firefighter Logan said. “They were so focused and squared away to be positive contributors to society.” FDNY members also provided college and career mentoring for high school students at the Alice Austen Museum on Staten Island, as well as various middle school community service projects in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.   The FDNY and NYC Service also partnered with the Department of Education to train more than 5,000 New York City high school students to perform compressions-only CPR throughout the year.