WESTBROOK — Westbrook High School senior Mackenzie Bickford’s goal in life after high school is simple: she wants to help people.
“I love to help people. It makes me feel good,” said Bickford, one of the 160 seniors set to graduate Saturday, June 8 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.
For the last two years, while most of the student body was in math, science, social studies or English classes, Bickford has been honing her public service skills through law enforcement and emergency medical technician classes at Westbrook Regional Vocational Center.
Throughout high school, Bickford has also been a member of the soccer, softball and cheerleading teams and this spring was inducted in the National Arts Honors Society.
“She is a great citizen. Mackenzie always has a smile on her face and works really hard to make sure she is helping other students,” said John Brooks, WRVC’s emergency medical technician/firefighting instructor. “Especially in the EMT class, she is always ready to learn.”
David Roubo, the center’s criminal justice instructor, said after taking his class last year and Brooks’ class this year, Bickford has the skills needed to be successful in the field of public safety.
“She is compassionate, intelligent, intuitive and has a protective side to her,” Roubo said.
Bickford was set to take the EMT exam May 30, which would certify her to work on an ambulance.
Bickford will be attending Southern Maine Community College in the fall, but is unsure what her discipline will be.
“I am still deciding between a criminal justice or paramedicine degree,” she said. They are both appealing to me. It will be hard for me to choose.”
Ultimately, regardless of which degree she ends up pursuing, Bickford said her goal is to work in a municipal public safety department. Through her WRVC center training, Brooks said Bickford has already completed ride-alongs with a Westbrook ambulance crew and did a stint at Convenient MD in downtown Westbrook.
Roubo is confident Bickford will succeed in whichever degree she decides to pursue. Bickford, he said, is the first student he can remember in his 14 years of teaching at WRVC who has been named both the criminal justice student of the year, which she earned in 2018, and the emergency medical technician student of the year, which she earned this year.
He said Bickford has both the intelligence and drive to accomplish what she sets out to do,
“I am not worried about her next year,” said Westbrook High School Aspirations Counselor Nicole Sturgis. “She has a goal and she is going to be able to do it.”
Bickford said her time in the law enforcement and emergency medical technician program has given her the opportunity to explore a passion of hers in a hands-on fashion and learn about splinting, bleed control, CPR, trauma assessment, as well as the criminal justice system, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, state laws, forensics, crime scene processing, self-defense and physical fitness.
“You learn in a different way. It is very hands-on,” she said. “You not only learn the vocation, but you gain confidence and personal skills that will last your entire life.”
Brooks said Bickford has been a joy to teach.
“Students like Mackenzie make teaching easy,” he said.
Her time at WRVC, however, only tells part of her desire to help people. Bickford is part of the high school’s Teen Trendsetters Club – a group that mentors students at Canal School in reading and writing – and The GSA Spectrum Club, which aims to make the high school a welcoming place for everyone, regardless of their gender identity.
“We welcome everybody to come be themselves,” she said.
Michael Kelley can be reached at 780-9106 or mkelley@keepmecurrent.com or on Twitter @mkelleynews
Mackenzie Bickford is hoping to turn courses she took at Westbrook Regional Vocational Center in law enforcement and emergency medicine into a career in public safety.
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