Welcome to 12 in 20! Once a month this year I will highlight a woman who has found and followed her passion. Enjoy their stories, find yourself in them, they are wonderful women. It’s a blessing to highlight them. Thank you for joining me for the third post in this series.
I’m so excited to introduce you to Lauren, who at first glance might remind you of a Disney princess, and at second glance…well, you’re still not convinced she’s not. Let me settle your mind about this, she looks likes a princess, and works like a gladiator from the movie Three Hundred. This is Lauren’s story.
Lauren has know what her passion was since she was a sixteen year old girl working at a local pizza joint. While working there firefighters from a nearby station would frequently come in to eat, she began talking with them about their jobs and the roll that women played in their department. These conversations started Lauren on her quest. Having gone through life being told she was “tiny” or “cute and petite” had become frustrating, while these are all flattering statements, what she wanted to hear was that she was brave and smart. She wanted people to realize she had the qualities she would need to pursuit her passion. At the age of twenty eight she found herself feeling unfulfilled by her current nine to five. She had known since age sixteen what it was she should be doing. It was time to put this long awaited desire into action. At just five foot three and one hundred and eighteen pounds this princess knew she would be “kicking against the pricks, swimming upstream and taking stabs at wild and crazy dreams.”
Lauren was going to be a firefighter.
But fairy tales and the pursuit of passion do not come easy, and what began as an adventure with her head held high and her spirit strong turned into darkness as she realized that she had a very, very rough road ahead. The journey would take her almost four years, and the obstacles seemed endless. Imagine feeling a high level of disappointment every day for years but continuing the fight.
Lauren’s fight began with a twelve week EMT course that ends in a state and national test. Once completed, she had to wait for a city to put out applications-she would then have to create a profile and sign in to be one of the fifteen hundred or so applicants. After that process she had to look forward to a written test of around one hundred and fifty questions that will usually take about three hours to complete. Finishing in the top five percent will likely get you a first round interview in front of a random panel of firefighters from the hiring city. She managed all those steps and next it was on to CPAT (candidate physical ability test) which consists of eleven events that must be completed in ten minutes and nineteen seconds, or she would fail out. But failing wasn’t an option, so she moved on after that to a second round of interviews and a five week unpaid internship academy which she did after work for four hours and on Saturdays for eight hours. Making it through all that brought her to a twelve week official academy where you are tested often on your physical ability, teamwork, reading and fire skills specific to the city which she would be working for. She never allowed herself to have a back up plan, this was it- and she attributes her success to this attitude. Much like Joan of Arc she would think, “I’m not afraid, I was born to do this.”
Being a firefighter has many benefits, a great home life ranks right near the top. Lauren is a wife and mother to two small kids. She loves being their role model and knowing that her schedule will allow her twenty days a month at home to take care of her family and still have time for being social with her friends. Lauren is blessed with a supportive family who attended her graduation where she was chosen by her peers to give the commencement address. Isn’t that just like the fairy tale ending the Princess always seems to have? She can now show young boys and girls that they can break molds and do anything they set out to do without permission from society.
There is something to be said for grit, for sheer determination and the will to fulfill our passions. Lauren is an example to not only young boys and girls, but to all of us who think that the cards are stacked against us. She really is the heroine in her own life story.
Thank you Lauren for sharing your journey to fulfilled passion with us. It was my pleasure to learn abut your life and journey.
