Page 21 - UFRA Straight Tip Spring 2021 - Volume 22 Issue 2

The RCA Fall 2020 Class #81 finished the program in November 2020. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, a graduation ceremony was not held.
Recruit Jeremy Schuler was the class officer for Class #81. Recruit Cody Calley was awarded the Outstanding Student Award, which was voted on by his peers. Recruits Devin Har- mon, Abraham Rosales, and Rylan Woodward earned the Physical Training Excellence Award. Recruits Cody Calley and Grant Malquist were given the Charles J. DeJournett Recruit Excellence Award & Instruc- tor Recommendation.
Captain Jeff Jones was awarded
the Outstanding Instructor Award, which was also voted on by the class. Andy Byrnes is the RCA course coordinator. Captain William Mack- intosh was the lead instructor, and Captain Steve Schaugaard was the assistant lead instructor.
RCA GRADUATION
Fall 2020 | Class #81
Back row (left to right): Thomas Nudd, Jeremy Schuler, Rylan Woodward, Isaiah Mo’o, Aiden Marin, Cody Calley, Mitchell Williams, Ammon Eberhard, Devin Harmon, Grant Malquist, Connor Kinsey Front row (left to right): Hayden Jumper, Carson Riley, Abraham Rosales, Trevor Phelps, Sadie Thatcher, Jarron Molen, Traci Burningham, James Arnold
UFRA 2020 Employee of the Year
The Utah Fire and Rescue Academy would like to announce Jennifer Lindley as this year’s UFRA Employee of the Year. Jennifer has been an outstanding employee, especially in light of the challenges of 2020. This year has been challenging in many ways for the Certification Office, but Jennifer has faced everything head on while maintaining a positive and professional attitude and while keeping her cool under pressure.
At the beginning of 2020, when we a lost a certification staff member, Jennifer stepped up and offered to cover Utah County, the biggest and busiest part of the central region. She was able to keep up with all in- coming requests for testing, certification, and Red Cards.
When COVID hit and UFRA shut down, Jennifer was on top of contact- ing departments to cancel exams. She successfully adapted to working from home and helping customers with concerns and questions. The longer testing was shut down, the more frustrated customers were. Jen- nifer handled those situations with ease and helped diffuse frustrating situations.
Once we were able to test again, Jennifer was slammed with examina- tion requests. She was able to find testers, and departments were able to
test on their requested dates—several people mentioned how great she was to work with.
As the office finally calmed down, we found out we were losing another staff member. Even before we hired
new staff, Jennifer stepped into a mentoring role, helping to plan how
to train them as quickly as possible. As training began for the new staff, Jennifer successfully kept up with ALL exam requests, tester scheduling, certifications, and Red Cards for the ENTIRE state. Nothing fell through the cracks.
The same week the new personnel started, our entire staff ended up in quarantine. Even at home, she was busy working to ensure the exams were filled. When she was finally able to get back to the office, she feverishly packed boxes for tests, overnighted those that could, and arranged to PERSONALLY deliver those that couldn’t. Again, nothing fell through the cracks.
When we were able to go back in the office, we aimed to have the new staff fully trained in three weeks. Jennifer successfully met this goal, mentoring and guiding each specialist on an individual level.
Jennifer is a valuable member of the certification team, and we are thrilled to highlight her abilities and accomplishments as the UFRA Employee of the Year.
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