(This article highlighting a Henderson County High School graduate is one of five included in the June graduation edition of the Hendersonian.)
Rylan Trigg has known he’s wanted to be a firefighter for a long time.
He comes by it honestly.
His uncle, Jeff King, is the deputy chief of Corydon Civil Defense, and his grandfather, Phillip “Sonny” Trigg served as a chief for many years.
“Seeing my uncle always at the fire department is really the driving force,” Rylan said.
So, it was a natural fit for Rylan to participate in the inaugural year of the Fire Science Pathway at Henderson County High School. The pathway is a partnership between the high school and the Henderson Fire Department, and this past year, an HFD employee taught the class with the goal of preparing students to step into a firefighting career after graduating from high school.
That’s certainly what Rylan hopes for.
When applications open up in August, he said, he’ll be applying for a spot on the HFD team.
And he said he’ll be prepared thanks to the training he received as part of the fire science pathway. He credits his teacher, HFD Division Chief Casey Howard for mentoring and preparing him for the next steps.
“He really pushed me, especially during co-op and training,” Rylan said.
The training also prepared Rylan for the SkillsUSA Kentucky firefighting competition in which Rylan placed first—throughout the state. He said that’s a big accomplishment not only for him but also the school’s fire science pathway in its first year.
Rylan wasn’t just taking part in-school lectures about firefighting. He also co-oped with HFD and was able ride along and attend training sessions with HFD firefighters and staff.
In addition to taking first place in the state SkillsUSA firefighting competition, Rylan was also named the fire science pathway student of the year.
Overall, Rylan said high school was a good experience, but he singled out the opportunities that he got in the CTE unit. Before the fire science pathway was offered, he had been a part of the engineering and machining pathway.
“It’s been great,” he said.
