Nineteen Graduate from Firefighter Recruit School

May 7, 2018

Nineteen new fire recruits graduated from firefighter recruit school during ceremonies held on Friday night, May 4th, in the auditorium at Sequoyah High School. The evening began with a welcome and introductions by Capt. Shannon Gibbs. Herbert Peterman, one of the recruits, gave an invocation followed by the presentation of colors by the Cherokee County Fire Honor Guard and the singing of the national anthem by another recruit graduate, Jedidiah Martin.

Before the presentation of the certificates of completion, a slideshow was shown and gifts were presented to some of the fire training officers by Hunter Graham and Alex Sinclair, Class Spokesmen and Chris Norrington, Class Leader. Four special achievement awards were presented to some of the recruits. The recipient of the Pinnacle Award for striving to "reach the top" due to dedication and hard-work in the Firefighter Recruit School Class was presented to Alex Sinclair. The Fire Academic Award was presented to Paul Ribeiro and the EMS Academic Award was presented to Eric Miller. The W. Clark Waters' Jr. Honor Graduate Award was presented to Chris Norrington. This award was named on behalf of Clark Waters, a Cherokee County firefighter, who passed away in 2004.

Cherokee County Commissioner, Scott Gordon, came forward to say a few words. Assistant Fire Chief, Eddie Robinson, followed and congratulated the new recruits and welcomed them to Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services. Cherokee County Fire Chief, Tim Prather, encouraged the recruits to keep their faith, family and job as their main priorities in their life. Chief Prather then asked the recruits to stand for the firefighter oath and the presentation of their certificates of completion.

Those recruits receiving certificates were: Cody Allen, Matthew Belesi, Carson Caglioni, Terry Droke, Hunter Graham, Jessica Heaton, Michael Hood, Rodney Hubbard, Jonathan James, Jedidiah Martin, William Miller, Chris Norrington, Herbert Peterman, Max Post, Paul Ribeiro, Alex Sinclair, Michael Smith, Timothy Stover and James Wright.

Congratulations to all the recruits for a job well done.

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