brewcity77, big man on campus

[jsglow]

'Roll the hose probie!' 

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I know of a MU FF in the Kansas City area.

[tower912]

If we mail tryout copies, brew, can we have your autograph?   

[muwarrior69]

I did not know that Brew was polysci major....putting out all those fires.

[WarriorInNYC]

Was that the fire with the rope rescue from the fifth floor?

Yup, right across the street from my apartment.

[Herman Cain]

 Congratulations, we need more guys like you with courage.

[Benny B]

Marquette was something like what, $20k in the early 2000s?  Even if you pay out of pocket, an Associate's and fire certification through MATC can't be more than $10,000 total, perhaps?

So Brew, I ask this without any ounce of sarcasm or judgement...  Did you enroll at MU with intentions of becoming a fire fighter or was the calling something you happened upon after (or en route to) graduation?  Logically, I want to assume the latter, but I am genuinely curious as to the path you chose and why.

Obviously, the question here is why spend upwards of $80,000 for a Bachelor's in something when you can get an Associate's in your exact field for less than 1/8th the cost.  So I presume there's much more to the story than the $$ involved; again, I'm not prying, implying or passing judgement... if I need to wait until you write your memoirs, just say the word.
 

[brewcity77]

Marquette was something like what, $20k in the early 2000s?  Even if you pay out of pocket, an Associate's and fire certification through MATC can't be more than $10,000 total, perhaps?

So Brew, I ask this without any ounce of sarcasm or judgement...  Did you enroll at MU with intentions of becoming a fire fighter or was the calling something you happened upon after (or en route to) graduation?  Logically, I want to assume the latter, but I am genuinely curious as to the path you chose and why.

Obviously, the question here is why spend upwards of $80,000 for a Bachelor's in something when you can get an Associate's in your exact field for less than 1/8th the cost.  So I presume there's much more to the story than the $$ involved; again, I'm not prying, implying or passing judgement... if I need to wait until you write your memoirs, just say the word.

I enrolled at Marquette with every intention of working in television, and I did. I graduated in 2004 with my Broadcast and Electronic Communications degree and started out working at Channel 18 in the news department. Eventually, they cancelled their news and fired all of us. My initial job plan fell through when the person hiring me at another company left their position and moved to Arizona, which led me to get a job at Columbia-St. Mary's in the lab. It was a nothing job, required no education, but paid the bills. After a few months I missed news, so I got a part-time job at Channel 12.

For the next two years, I worked the two jobs, averaging 72 hours per week, 2nd shift at CSM, 3rd shift at WISN. Suffice to say, that got old and I got tired of waiting for my part-time dedication to turn into a full-time gig. I quit Channel 12 so I could get back to sleeping at night and have time for human relationships. A couple months later I heard the fire department was opening up their hiring process. My father was on MFD for 27 years, so I figured "what the hell, I'll give it a shot." Didn't take it seriously until I got the results back and was 39th out of 5,000+ applicants.

I was a 160 pound stringbean, in (at best) marginally average shape from working 4 years of desk jobs, and knew nothing about the job. I knew there was no way I'd ever actually get on the Fire Department, so I told my dad "well I'm just going to keep going until they kick me out."

I worked my ass off to get through the physical test, and they didn't kick me out. I got through EMT, still not kicked out. Went into the Academy, and somehow they didn't kick me out. Six years later and they still haven't kicked me out. I totally fell backwards into the position, and it's not even close to where I thought I'd be or what I thought I'd be doing. I love the job and am happy to be where I'm at, but safe to say my Marquette education isn't getting a whole lot of use. There are plenty of lessons from there that I've carried into my career, but it's just one of those "it is what it is" situations where everything is going well, even if it's not at all what it was "supposed" to be.

[Benny B]

I enrolled at Marquette with every intention of working in television, and I did. I graduated in 2004 with my Broadcast and Electronic Communications degree and started out working at Channel 18 in the news department. Eventually, they cancelled their news and fired all of us. My initial job plan fell through when the person hiring me at another company left their position and moved to Arizona, which led me to get a job at Columbia-St. Mary's in the lab. It was a nothing job, required no education, but paid the bills. After a few months I missed news, so I got a part-time job at Channel 12.

For the next two years, I worked the two jobs, averaging 72 hours per week, 2nd shift at CSM, 3rd shift at WISN. Suffice to say, that got old and I got tired of waiting for my part-time dedication to turn into a full-time gig. I quit Channel 12 so I could get back to sleeping at night and have time for human relationships. A couple months later I heard the fire department was opening up their hiring process. My father was on MFD for 27 years, so I figured "what the hell, I'll give it a shot." Didn't take it seriously until I got the results back and was 39th out of 5,000+ applicants.

I was a 160 pound stringbean, in (at best) marginally average shape from working 4 years of desk jobs, and knew nothing about the job. I knew there was no way I'd ever actually get on the Fire Department, so I told my dad "well I'm just going to keep going until they kick me out."

I worked my ass off to get through the physical test, and they didn't kick me out. I got through EMT, still not kicked out. Went into the Academy, and somehow they didn't kick me out. Six years later and they still haven't kicked me out. I totally fell backwards into the position, and it's not even close to where I thought I'd be or what I thought I'd be doing. I love the job and am happy to be where I'm at, but safe to say my Marquette education isn't getting a whole lot of use. There are plenty of lessons from there that I've carried into my career, but it's just one of those "it is what it is" situations where everything is going well, even if it's not at all what it was "supposed" to be.

Maybe it is what it's supposed to be after all.  Very interesting story.  Thanks for sharing.

[SoCalEagle]

Brew, it seems like this is exactly how it's supposed to be. You found your niche and exploited it. Those who love their work did it the right way (no matter how they got there). 

[tower912]

Nice, brew.  You ended up where you belonged.

[brewcity77]

Brew, it seems like this is exactly how it's supposed to be. You found your niche and exploited it. Those who love their work did it the right way (no matter how they got there).

The irony of it all is had I stayed at Channel 12 another month, I would've got my full-time job. I needed two people to leave, and within a few weeks of me leaving one moved to Chicago and the other was fired. But they also got a new News Director who didn't know me, so my phone never rang. Still glad how it worked out, I'm much better off.