Nicholas Swift

Dear Whomever it may concern, My name is Veronica Reynoso, I am a senior attending at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego, California. I would love if you’d take the time out of your day to read the story about my Fire Captain who I personally believe should be a nominee for the teacher of the century, he dedicates so much time and effort for his students. He’s not only my teacher, but he’s my best friend, a counselor, & a role model. Let me take this time to introduce him. His name is Nicholas Swift, he was a Captain in the fire service who eventually wanted to put that to the side & he dedicated all his time to teach everyone at Health Sciences High CPR, First AID, and basic life skills he’s learned over his course of time as a FireFighter. If anyone is ever hurt emotionally & or physically he will go out of his way to make sure he is there for you. I’ve known Captain Swift since I was a freshman in high school. I am one of those kids who were too afraid to open up to anyone for the simple fact that I didn’t come from such a fairytale childhood. During freshman year, Captain Swift not only taught me all the basic life skills I know today, but he’s also helped me realize that it is okay to trust someone and not just shut everyone out. He has shown me so much leadership, trust, & commitment. Over the years he has taught me all the skills I know to help and save a life and helped me overcome my fear of communicating with people whether it be family or a stranger on the street. Sophomore year he instructed my class & I more fire techniques, it was mostly book work that year but I find it to be great that he did that because during that time he taught us so much discipline & how the real world works. When I was a sophomore it was less book work and more of the EMT skills. I found my true passion in wanting to work in the medical field because while learning all these skills I found myself to be more interested in finding all sorts of ways to help a person when they are in medical need. Nicholas Swift would spend a lot of time with my friend Genesis & I during this time because we had showed him we were truly committed to everything we had been learning. Since Freshman year my Captain would dedicate a big majority of his time to help us with everything we needed to learn new skills as long as we showed him that we were as committed as we said we were. So since then I have gathered up so much knowledge to help me out eventually when I do go into the medical field. So every year our school attends a convention called HOSA (Health Occupation Student Association) & Captain Swift originally only takes seniors since its their last year but since he always goes over & beyond for us I believed I’d do the same for him. In return for dedicating so much time & effort towards EMT skills, my Captain went above & beyond to take my partner & I (Genesis) to compete in HOSA as juniors! It was one of the best experiences in my life, as the first pair of juniors t ever compete in the EMT portion at HOSA we ranked 9th in the state out of 50!! I was extremely proud of myself because I knew that I could do it after all of the hard work I had been putting in. This year in March I do plan on winning first place & going to Nationals in Florida! Towards the end of our school year Captain Swift teaches likes to put on a show for the public at our school, something we like to call Symposium. We show off all the techniques, such as tying ropes & knots, tools aloft which is tying off tools on a rope & sending it up/down to your partner, RIT (Rapid Intervention Team) which is when we build a prop kind of like a “room like search and rescue” which is when a group of four goes into the scene, goes through some course & is invented to save the victim we are to remove them from the scene and help them, we also do ladders, & honestly there’s so much more other things but it’s too much to name. Another reason I wanted to write this to you to nominate him is because on some Saturdays, Cap goes out of his way and takes up his own time to take some students up to poway to train in a big building. We train with real life hoses, bunker gear which is basically your PPE (Personal Protection Equipment), we learn real life FireFighter skills and get to train off of an actual Fire Truck. My teacher Nicholas still continues to amaze me for the simple fact on how he dedicates so much time on helping you out! Captain Swift was there at my worst days & he’s still here cheering me on & pushing me to do my very best for my career. He not only wants the best for my well being, but he wants the absolute best for my career. During this school year as a senior, he does things that no other teacher would do for a student. Starting January 28th of this year some classmates and I have been granted the opportunity to take a real life EMT course at a community college. We get to experience working the emergency room department and also get ride-alongs on an ambulance! I have been training with my Captain for 4 years now and since I have been chosen to go to HOSA and compete for 1st place AND take this EMT course I believe the least I can do is at least write you a letter to make it known that at Health Sciences High and Middle College there is an amazing teacher who needs the world to know that he does exist. He is not only a leader, a teacher, and a best friend, but also a fatherly figure in my life. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my nominee recommendation, hope to hear from you soon! Veronica Reynoso Cell: (619) 919-1693 Email: [email protected]

Veronica Reynoso