Finding a Destiny

Hello Everyone. Allow me to introduce myself… my name is Nick Gosik, and I am part of cohort 5 in the Temple ProRanger Program. I am a transfer student at Temple, transferring in last semester, and currently loving Temple! I am a junior and am a finance major in the Fox School of Business. I am beyond excited to have become a part of this program and continue to look forward to see where this will take myself and all of the other great friends that I have had the chance to get close to in the program. For everyone to get to know me, let me give you a background of what has ignited the fire in me to give back and help people, how I currently do that now, and want to continue to over my first internship at a National Park/Battlefield this upcoming summer.

The event that really has struck me and made me want to give back to people is one that will always be remembered in our nation’s history, which is the tragic events that happened on September 11, 2001. To this day, I cannot pinpoint what it is, but it lights a fire in me, wishing I were old enough on that day to help those trapped in the towers. My family lost a close friend that day, as he was the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 that hit the North Tower. So not only could I see the hurt in everyone around the country, but to people close to me. I did not know how I wanted to help and protect people though until I was about 17. Before then, I was in between wanting to become a cop or a firefighter so; I joined my local police department’s Police Explorer Program. It was one way I could start to learn and give back to my local community. But when I turned 17, I decided to join my local volunteer fire department. My decision to join the program was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life and will never regret. Since then, I have given most of my time to training and running calls for my department and just this year was promoted to Sergeant, being put in charge of tools on our trucks and training all of our junior members, whose ages range from 16-18. I also am currently working on getting my National Registry EMT certification, so I can further equip myself to help more people in ways I currently cannot. As tragic as the events of 9/11/01 were, these events made others, including myself want to give back to others and helped us choose, in my eyes, the most rewarding careers out there.

So, you may be sitting there asking yourself, why would he want to become a NPS Law Enforcement Ranger? That is a great question and I will tell you why. It is because it incorporates everything I would love to do in one career and I would feel like I never worked a day in my life! The opportunities that have been explained to me sound endless and will always have me learning new skills! Even though I am a volunteer firefighter and love it, my career choice would be in law enforcement, which a National Park Ranger LEO is. Outside of that, you can have the opportunity to learn wildland firefighting and many other different aspects of fire prevention and fire fighting. Also, I would be able to use my EMT certification to help those that are injured accidently, or sometimes on purpose, when citizens our exploring our beautiful national parks and battlefields around the country. Being a Law Enforcement Ranger would be a dream come true and I will work through anything I need to in order to achieve this goal.

 

We have not found out what park yet we are going to yet, but regardless, I will be happy with any park I am assigned to. I am very eager to learn and explore what it is like working in the parks and the variety of scenes and artifacts, which are located in them. My favorite kinds of parks are those with many different hiking trails and wildlife and close to rivers, lakes, or oceans. I look forward to sharing with everyone what park I will be going to in the future when we are told and how my experiences go over the summer!