{"id":3267,"date":"2018-08-07T11:01:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T11:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3267"},"modified":"2018-08-07T15:32:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T15:32:09","slug":"tstc-ems-student-sets-a-high-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3267","title":{"rendered":"TSTC EMS Student Sets a High Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(BROWNWOOD) \u2013 Christopher Michael of Comanche worked jobs as a bartender and band tour manager after high school, but he knew he wanted to do more with his life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The job he had as a volunteer firefighter lit the spark, which led to him to enroll at Texas State Technical College.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI was looking for something more long-term and stable,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael is a candidate for graduation for the Certificate 2 \u2013 Emergency Medical Services Paramedic at Texas State Technical College\u2019s Summer 2018 Commencement on Friday, Aug. 17, at the Abilene Convention Center.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael is already a graduate of TSTC, having finished his Certificate 1 \u2013 Emergency Medical Services EMT in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe instructors we have here have been helpful inside and outside the classroom. You spend so much time working together that it\u2019s like a family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stephanie Young, a TSTC Emergency Medical Services instructor, said Michael set a standard of professionalism among his classmates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe is just a wonderful advocate for our program,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s never late, has a 4.0 grade point average, which is not easy in the medical field. He is outstanding in his clinicals. He really sets the standard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael, 36, currently works for Lifeguard Emergency Medical Services in Brownwood.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe answer 911 calls in Brown County and take transfers across the state,\u201d he said. \u201cI can work on classwork between calls. I have to push through it. It\u2019s a grueling schedule with school and clinicals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael\u2019s clinical work was in Abilene and split between ambulance services and hospitals. He said he enjoyed being in the operating rooms the most, learning about anatomy and medical procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe students learn quality patient care and professionalism that really sets them apart from others,\u201d Young said. \u201cWe teach in a flip classroom, which means it is all scenario-based education. It is real world, real-life scenarios from mock phone calls to action in the field. There is an extreme demand for paramedics, so much so that they are being offered hiring bonuses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael will be among the first Emergency Medical Services students attending classes in late August in the new Industrial Technology Center at TSTC in Abilene. The EMS program is relocating to the new building from the East Highway 80 campus in Abilene.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRight now I am at another stepping stone to be a flight medic,\u201d said Michael. \u201cI could not have picked a better college.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael is a 2000 graduate of Comanche High School.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_3160-1-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3268\" src=\"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_3160-1-2-300x166.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_3160-1-2-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_3160-1-2-624x345.jpg 624w, https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_3160-1-2.jpg 668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(BROWNWOOD) \u2013 Christopher Michael of Comanche worked jobs as a bartender and band tour manager after high school, but he knew he wanted to do more with his life. The job he had as a volunteer firefighter lit the spark, which led to him to enroll at Texas State Technical College. \u201cI was looking for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brownwood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3269,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267\/revisions\/3269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}