TCHS grad loves helping people and wants to become firefighter one day
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IDAHO FALLS —- Colby Norlund was the student council president and was picked as the valedictorian when he graduated from Technical Careers High School in May.
“I am in a medical program where I will graduate high school with my EMT certificate, my medical assisting certificate and something called an EKG technician certificate,” he said.
The 18-year-old said he would like to become a licensed EMT in the state of Idaho.
“I’ve always loved helping people … just doing everything I can to give back to the community, and firefighting and being a paramedic or EMT is a great way that I found to do that. It interests me, it challenges me and it is something that I thoroughly enjoy doing,” he explained.
He is originally from California and has dealt with wildfires, too. He said he was grateful for the first responders that helped.
“We had huge fires there back in 2018, I believe it was. The first responders were incredibly helpful. They saved probably thousands, if not more, homes and so that was a really big turning point where I realized that was something I wanted to do and be there and just help the community when it’s needed the most,” he said.
He hopes he can become a firefighter/paramedic one day as a potential volunteer.
“The way I kind of explain it to everyone who asks is I feel like when everyone is a kid, they say they want to be a firefighter when they grow up and then that feeling kind of goes away, but for me it just never did,” he said.
When Colby was in California, he added that he was on a robotics team and learned engineering.
“I was actually lead engineer and captain on that and we went to Victoria, Canada to compete,” he said.
When he came to Technical Careers High School in Idaho Falls as a junior, he took a wide range of classes like engineering, welding and EMT that helped him learn different skills.
“I think that’s a pretty cool experience where most kids don’t get to do that. They just kind of focus on one thing,” Colby said.
Outside of school, he enjoys being in the outdoors and dirt biking.
Currently, he is employed with an excavation company and has a great job opportunity within the company.
He said he is taking everything day by day to see where life takes him. He is keeping his options open, but knows one thing for sure. He knows he will be helping people.
“Helping people as much as I can whether that be small things like fixing someone’s driveway for them in excavation or whether it be trying to save someone’s life in an emergency situation. One way or another, I love helping people,” Colby said.