What even is an EMT? by Fiona

What even is an EMT? by Fiona - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

There have been a lot of things that have challenged me in school, but nothing humbled me like my senior year Emergency Medical Technician class. I was lucky enough to have an EMT program provided by my high school where we could complete the class and get our license to be EMTs. When I started the class, I thought it would be so easy. I already took a college level Anatomy and Physiology class. How hard could this be? Well I was very wrong. Having to go over the functions and biology of every system in the body, needing to know all of the different life saving techniques, what to do in every medical event, how to properly respond to every call we get, how to respond and triage a mass casualty incident, learning about so many different medications and having to know why they function the way they do and how we can give them, and just so much more. I truly didn’t even know how to comprehend all of that information. I had to change the way I thought about school and studying completely. During my first three years in high school, I just took notes on the presentations during class, did the homework without truly paying attention and didn’t study for tests, but I couldn’t do that for this class. I failed my first test in the class, the first test I ever failed in high school, and I was so angry. But I wasn’t angry at the class or my teacher, I was angry at myself for not trying my hardest. After that, I started taking notes on the presentations before class and then listening to my teacher present to better understand the material, studying before each test, staying after class for help, and truly trying as hard as I can to be the best EMT I can be. In just four months that class taught me how to actually succeed and get the most knowledge out of my education. It taught me how to critically think not just in school, but also how I go into working in healthcare in the future. I’m so glad I had a class that pushed me to reach my fullest potential.