Ander's Eras Tour

General Studies

After High School I started at Pensacola State College (Milton Campus) for my General AA trying to figure out where to take my life.

EMT

In 2012, I was accepted into the Fall Class for Emergency Medical Technician at Pensacola State (Warrington Campus).

I was a Team Leader and passed the course, the State Exam (FL EMT-B), and the National Exam (NREMT).

911

After EMT school I landed a job at Santa Rosa County Emergency Communications as a 911 dispatcher.

It takes almost a year to fully train as a 911 dispatcher so I deferred my enrollment in PSC's Paramedic Program but continued with my AA.

During my initial training I became EMD certified. EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatcher) is an International Certification through IAED (International Academies of Emergency Dispatch).

I am also Licensed through Florida Department of Health as a 911 Public Safety Telecommunicator.

Lifeguard Ambulance

After a few of years at Dispatch and finishing my AA- I decided to pick up a part time job with Lifeguard Ambulance Service. I mostly worked on-call with the Sacred Heart NICU Transport Team.

I indefinitely deferred my application for the Paramedic Program in this era of life.

I'll always have a love for Emergency Medicine which I continue to practice through Emergency Medical Dispatching.

Flight Follower

In 2014 Santa Rosa County ECC was selected to Flight Follow the new Lifeguard Medical Helicopter based at Peter Prince Airport.

This led to preparing for, taking, and passing the Air Traffic Controller Exam.

I unfortunately aged out before a new selection class was offered.

University of West Florida

In 2016, I wanted to further my education and enrolled at UWF for their Bachelor of Science - Career and Technical Education: Workforce and Program Development Program (now known as the Instructional Design Program.)

During this program I also completed a Management Development Certificate and Technology Systems Support Certificate.

I fell in love with Instructional Design and excelled in my studies.

After being awarded the 2018 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award for Workforce and Program Development, I was offered Express Admission into the Instructional Design and Technology Graduate Program.

Hurricane Michael

In October of 2018, Hurricane Michael made landfall in Bay County at a Category 5.

A state emergency was declared and all state emergency teams were activated.

As a  FL-TERT  (Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce) member and being the closest team unaffected by the storm - we arrived at the Bay County Emergency Operations Center in the early morning hours after impact.

After recovery, we were recognized by Bay County Emergency Services and 850 Dispatchers for our service during the storm.

UWF Cybersecurity

In October of 2023 I was made aware of a program for first responders who were looking to advance their skills and knowledge in Cybersecurity. I applied and out of hundreds of applicants - I was one of the 40 selected for the 2024 program.

This 7 month, 5 course  Cybersecurity program  prepares participants to complete industry certifications in CompTIA A+, Network +, and Security +.

So far I have completed and earned certification in A+, Network+, and ITF+. I will be starting Security+ in July.

I am also enrolled at PSC for IT related courses.

UWF GIS

In 2019, I applied to finish my Masters in Instructional Design and earn my GIS Certificate starting in Fall of 2020.

In Spring of 2020 - the world ended and I pressed pause to reevaluate my life and career goals.

The Summer of 2023 I reapplied to the GIS program to start in 2024.

I am on track to complete in December 2024.

I have maintained a 4.0 GPA and aspire to preserve the achievement.