A graduation ceremony was held at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue on Saturday, May 31, to celebrate the accomplishments of its newest members. Fifteen firefighters graduated from the recruit academy and were presented certificates by Captain Candy McCullough and Lieutenant Rick Brown.

The new firefighters are Jesse Abercrombie, Chris Coley, Erich Doughly, Andrew Facchini, Will Hyndman, Remi Joffray, Joey Mayorkinos, Belgium Maza, Berlin Maza, Michael Plympton, Alex Rudisky, Paul Schuster, Cory Wallace, Jocelyne Weller and Sandra Wilton. Two new fire support members, Corby Christensen and Armen Yousoufian, were also recognized.

Corby Christensen, Joshua Foley, Eric Smith, Cory Wallace, Jocelyne Weller, Sandra Wilton and Armen Yousoufian graduated from the King County emergency medical technician (EMT) class.

Assistant Chief Brett Kranjcevich presented certificates to the instructors who provided the training for the recruit academy: Jennifer Becker, Rick Brown, Tom Bruskotter, Jason Everett, Charlie Krimmert, Bob Larsen, Candy McCullough, Josh Pizzano, Leslie Pohl, Mike Rugg, David Sova and Randy Tonkin.

Awards were presented by Battalion Chief Cari Coll for individual accomplishments. The fire academy valedictorian award went to Paul Schuster, for having the highest cumulative written test scores. The recruits voted Chris Coley “most inspirational.” The academy instructors voted for the “outstanding recruit,” which resulted in a tie between Jesse Abercrombie and Chris Coley. Coll, the class coordinator and drillmaster, selected Cory Wallace for the “drillmasters award,” based on positive attitude, level of improvement and work ethic.

For the EMT class, the valedictorian was Joshua Foley. The King County EMS instructors voted for Corby Christensen and Jocelyne Weller to both receive the “outstanding leadership award.” During the ceremony, speeches were conducted by Coll, Fire Chief Mike Kirk, Jason Everett, Paul Schuster (on behalf of the fire academy) and JoJo Weller (on behalf of the EMT class).

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue will be accepting applications in July for the next recruit academy, which starts in late August.