They’ve run into burning buildings, treated the injured and comforted the ill. Now they’re walking the Lawn.
Fourth-year University of Virginia students Takelia Jones, Mannix Green and Kevin Holcombe come from different backgrounds, earned different degrees from different schools and will make their Lawn walk on different days. What they have in common is a desire to help others, which led to their service with the Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department.
The trio will don firefighter helmets with their gowns as they join in the procession for Final Exercises.
“We’re all college students, but we come from all sorts of different walks of life,” said Holcombe, an architecture student from Fairfax who will be commissioned as a second lieutenant through UVA’s U.S. Army ROTC program.
“We’re short and tall and all from different places, just like the whole community. It shows that it isn’t how you look or how you’re raised that determines how much you care. And I think the people here stand out because they care so much,” Holcombe said.
Jones and Green train to force open doors while Holcombe takes note. The firefighting Hoos rose through the levels of training even as they completed their UVA studies. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
UVA has a call of its own with its elite academics, history-steeped traditions and student social life, all of which attracted the three students. They also found a desire to help and serve the community beyond Grounds.
“People could be battling many things when they call for help, and being on that call means you could be the resource to help someone in a moment when they’re vulnerable,” said Jones, who hails from Hampton and will receive her bachelor’s in African American and African Studies. “You’re there when they’re asking for help, and asking for help is not always easy. We can make a difference in someone’s life.”
But one does not simply walk into a fire station, don turnout gear and put the hose to a blaze. They must be trained. Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department is the busiest fire station in Albemarle County, and volunteer and career firefighters respond to more than 3,000 calls each year, from buildings on fire to traffic accidents, from technical rescues to medical emergencies.
To be a part of the department, students attend fire service training, learning to battle blazes, operate and maintain vehicles and machinery, and provide emergency medical care. With more training and experience, they move up in rank and responsibility – all while attending UVA classes and completing their coursework.
Holcombe, Green and Jones enjoy a soft drink and down time. Camaraderie among colleagues is another reason the Wahoos say they serve with the fire department. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
“Students pick it up quickly. They’re talented, smart and driven individuals, and that’s why they’re at UVA,” said Capt. Henry Nixon, a 2021 UVA computer science graduate who also volunteered during his time on Grounds. “The actual tasks aren’t hard to learn. The harder part is the emotional aspect of things, like working as a team and how to process real-life calls and real-life issues like death and poverty and homelessness and terminal sickness.”
While some who consider the department decide it’s not for them, many stay. In fact, 60% of the department’s volunteer force comprises either current or former UVA students or others with close connections to Grounds.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find someone on a duty night who is not connected to UVA in some way,” Nixon said. “I think there are only one or two people on my crew who have not been a student or worked for UVA.”
“It comes down to wanting to be able to help people, training for it, and then using that training,” said Green, a transfer student from John Tyler Community College graduating with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. “We’ve trained for this. We don’t want something to catch fire or someone to need help, but it happens. And if it’s going to happen, we want to be the ones who help. We want to be there.”
Training and running calls mean spending some evenings and some weekends at the fire station. With study rooms at the station and time between calls, the student volunteers keep up on their UVA coursework and even have some time for a social life.
“I had time incorporated to do my homework. It’s very easy to manage because there are dedicated spaces for that, but you also have people around you that support you,” Jones said.
“We’re not on every night or every weekend, so we get plenty of time to do clubs,” said Green, who helped found a biomimicry underwater robotics submersible team on Grounds. “UVA is such an amazing university that you can have a full experience without ever leaving Grounds. But this way we get to experience other things in life that a lot of students may not.”
