How would you describe your occupation? I am a volunteer EMT at Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. I just like helping people, and this is a good way to do that. As of right now, I am doing a minimum of two nights a week, from 6 to 10 pm. During non-school time, I get back to doing overnights. At WestConn, I work in the admissions office and I’m a biology major. I’m very interested in neuroscience as a whole. I’m working with a professor with her research there right now. She has taken me under her wing teaching me all kinds of research techniques. At this point we are using rat brain cells and human embryonic kidney cells, trying to figure out how different factors affect perineuronal nets in any sort of central nervous system cells. It’s been really interesting. I plan to go for my PhD after I get my bachelors.

Who is in your family? I have a big family. My main troop, my mom and my sister, both live in town as well. They are my support system. My dad, my step-mom, step-siblings, and my grandfather live in town. I have aunts, uncles, and cousins who live in town too, and even more just outside of Newtown, Brookfield, and surrounding towns. I also have uncles who live in Arizona, so they’re way out there.

Do you have any pets? Technically speaking, I have two dogs. I have one at my dad’s house, and then one who is technically my roommate’s dog, but she has decided she is now my dog, too. I have four cats, I have three at my dad’s and my roommate’s cat too.

How long have you lived in Newtown? My entire life. We’re coming up on 21 years and a couple months, and I still don’t know half of the roads we go to for ambulance calls.

What do you like to do in your free time? Recently I’ve been watching The Golden Girls and The Blacklist. Might throw a movie in here and there. I’d say most of the time it’s been Netflix and studying.

What organizations are you part of in town? Within Newtown Ambulance, I’m part of community relations, organizing events to attend around town like Newtown athletics, and now we’re doing the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation Butterfly Party in June. We see if we can get EMTs to go represent the corps at pretty much any community event people reach out to us for.

What compelled you to join the ambulance corps? I always saw ambulances going by and thought, “Hey, I want to do that.” I was originally a nursing student. I figured being an EMT would help me get my foot in the door in the medical field. I decided nursing wasn’t my thing, but I had started the EMT class at Newtown and still loved it. I stuck with it and I’m very glad that I did. Overall, it has been a very enjoyable almost-year with the corps.

Who or what has been the greatest influence on your life? My mom. She’s always made sure I try to do my best. She’s always made me feel that I could do anything I wanted to do, and pushed me to do better. If I was ever struggling or having a tough time, she’d help me get through that and get better. I definitely got my work ethic from her.

If you could spend the day with one person, who would you choose? Adele. She just seems like a fun person to be around. I wish I had the money to go to one of her Vegas concerts. I think it’d be really cool to get to sit in on her going through the process of making and recording her music.

What’s the greatest piece of advice you’ve ever been given? My freshman year of high school was definitely a tough year. Mrs Dnes was my algebra teacher, and math was not my strong suit. She was overwhelmingly supportive and there for you when I needed it. After I took my final, I got a 96 percent. She called a couple days after she graded it just to say how proud she was of me. She told me to not give up. Even if I felt like I wanted to, I could push through and I could accomplish things that I didn’t think I could do.

What is something you cannot live without? My family has always been a big thing for me. I do have a pretty big family, especially on my mom’s side, and one of my favorite times of year is when we all get together at my aunt’s house for Christmas. We did for the first time last year since COVID started, and it was just nice to be with everybody again.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Getting my EMT license. It’s a tough couple of tests to take: the NREMT and then the state practical. It was something I dedicated a lot of time to, studied a lot for. I was proud of passing both of my exams the first try and getting my certificate I have above my desk. It’s honestly the first thing I’ve been super proud of myself for.

What would you like The Newtown Bee to cover in the future? I think it’d be cool to allow people a more in-depth look at emergency services to see what everyday life is like for an EMT or a firefighter and how they handle certain situations. Also, promoting knowing how to do CPR. I think that’s a very important skill and something that could save lives.

What is your favorite travel destination? Out of places I’ve been I would pick to go over and over again, it’s Maine. One of my favorite places there is Acadia National Park. It has a huge mountain, and you can see out into the ocean. There’s Bar Harbor, a small town right on the shore that’s got a bunch of shops and huge boats. I went to Maine a lot as a kid, so those are places I have really fond memories of. It’s just a really relaxing place for me.

What is the best part of Newtown? The community. I see so much good that happens in this town. It’s a very nice place to live, because everybody is so nice and it seems like everybody cares about each other. I’ve had great interactions with complete strangers. Patient interactions, too. People are just nice to talk to, I’ve had great conversations.