By James Day
Silverton High continues to excel in just its second year of participation in Protective Services competitions.
Silverton repeated as state champions in firefighting and also won a state championship in career pathway in March at Camp Withycombe in Clackamas.
The SkillsUSA-sponsored competition also hosts a national event, with four Silverton students scheduled to participate June 24-28 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Silverton senior Easton Peoples was the state firefighting champion, while seniors Magaly Nino-Gomez, Samira Weathers and junior Zach Stutzman were state champions in career pathway.
All four advanced to the national competition in Louisville, along with Brennan Raynor, the 2018 high school firefighting state champ who was fifth at nationals a year ago.
Raynor, a freshman at Chemeketa Community College, is learning the professional ropes as a “sleeper” with the Silverton Fire District.
Other Silverton High participants in the state competition included:
• Seniors Sydney Bersin, Autumn Hurst and Amber Ross took second in crime scene investigation.
• Senior Carson Brock was third in firefighting.
• Nino-Gomez was third in criminal justice.
• Freshman Luke Bryant was fifth in first aid and CPR.
• Weathers was sixth in firefighting.
Kirsten Barnes, the school’s protective services instructor also noted that eight current and former participants in the program already are responding to emergencies with the Silverton Fire District. They include Brock, Weathers, seniors Kyle Drescher and Weathers as well as Chemeketa freshmen Raynor, John Seeber, Kyra Snook and Mercedes Sosa.
