Camp Molly has concluded for this year with a graduation ceremony for this year’s 35 participants.
The young women participating in the program were given a first hand look at everything being a firefighter entails, with hands-on instruction on how to do everything from ripping a car open with the jaws of life to controlling a high pressure fire hose.
Camp Molly particpants have one final challenge before graduation, a grueling relay that tests the skills they learned during the program. Photo: Alan-Michael Steele 7/16/2023
Anita Cook, one of this year’s graduates, said that she’d learned a lot about the effort and teamwork that goes into firefighting.
“I wasn’t sure before, but I think now I know that I definitely want to, even if it’s just volunteering,” said Cook. “I want to spend some of my time doing this for the rest of my life.”
Ericca Naderi, another of the graduates, is planning to become a fire inspector after learning more about the job.
“I thought it was just one type of fire, like a fire is a fire, but there’s so many different kinds,” said Naderi “I can name you all of them. It’s really cool!”
The Sunday graduation ceremony saw the young women recognized for both their individual achievements and for how far they came as a group.
During her keynote speech, prominent athlete and local businesswoman Jackie Jarrell related with the camp participants on how difficult it can be to break into a male dominated profession.
“If you want something bad enough you can make it happen,” Jarrell said. “There’s challenges and there’s hurdles but there’s no reason why you can’t break down those barriers and keep going into whatever it is you want to do.”
Camp Molly Quinte was just one of six Camp Molly locations running this year.
