'Wonderful opportunity': Cocoa recruiting students for public safety careers through scholarships

COCOA, Fla. - The City of Cocoa is tapping into local talent to keep the community safe.

Across the country, fire and police recruits are hard to come by, but graduating seniors in Brevard County are stepping up to fill the gap.

"People don’t really want to do that dangerous stuff. When people are running away from the fire, you see us running in, so I think that’s what really takes people away from that part of it," said Gabriel Schaller who just graduated from Cocoa High School and is pursuing a career in firefighting.

He is one of four students who are among the city’s inaugural public safety scholarship recipients, ready to make a positive difference in the community they call home.

The City of Cocoa is working to recruit recent high school graduates for a career in public safety.

"I really like safety and public safety, and I think that I can make that difference, especially being my color," said scholarship recipient Jerrell Duppins, pursuing a career in law enforcement. "I want to make that change." 

Funding allocated by Cocoa’s City Council is helping these students step into the careers of their dreams. The city is giving $180,000 to the first four recipients, paying for their academy training and providing a stipend while they are learning.

"Finding opportunities immediately after high school becomes a super-high priority for me, so this is just a wonderful opportunity," said Cocoa High School’s principal, Denise Stewart. 

Stewart was a catalyst in the creation of the program saying most of her students want to stay in Brevard County when they graduate. She doesn’t want finances to keep them from pursuing their dreams.

The City of Cocoa is optimistic it can expand the program in the future to not only fill recruiting gaps but keep local kids in the community.

"I love Cocoa," Duppins added. "I just want to stay here."

Across the country, police and fire agencies are struggling to hire.

"We’re finding that a lot of people that are interviewing just aren’t meeting the qualifications, so we’ve had to find different innovative ways of trying to find more qualified applicants," said Dabner Roman who is a lieutenant with the Cocoa Police Department and leads recruitment.

A new study shows 94% of fire departments nationwide had staffing challenges in the past year, and 87% of police departments are not fully staffed.

After touring each department during school trips, these new recruits are ready to get going and are thankful they won’t have to worry about extra debt launching their professions.

"It’s going to help me a lot, so I was so happy about it," Schaller concluded.

City leaders are looking for more creative ways to fill crucial first responder positions in the community.