Lacey Township High School Teacher Inspires Students To Serve Their Community

Renee Gurgacz was getting her special education class at Lacey Township High School ready to attend the Special Olympics in early June. She was dressed in jeans and was helping to load the students onto a bus to go to the event, when she received word she needed to go to the school’s main office.

When she arrived, she was greeted with cameras and balloons. Radio Station Thunder 106 was there to honor Gurgacz as Teacher of the Month for May.

“I had no idea -- when I got called to the front office, I thought I had done something wrong,” said Gurgacz, a teacher in Lacey since 2004 and advisor of the Emergency Services Club, which she formed in 2006.

Gurgacz was nominated for the First Financial Federal Credit Union and Thunder 106 Teacher of the Month Award by Haley Kreis, a club member.

“Ms. Gurgacz has been such a hero to me,” Kreis wrote in her nomination letter. “She introduced me into volunteering on our local ambulance squad and this week I graduated EMT class with 26 other people, including another fellow Lacey High student.”

Kreis, 17, will be a Senior in the fall and plans to go into nursing. This summer, she will serve as an Emergency Medical Technician for Lanoka Harbor Emergency Medical Services. She said both her father and godfather are firefighters and other family members serve in the military.

“I joined the Emergency Services Club when I was a freshman because I always wanted to give back to my country,” said Kreis. “Ms. G. gives so much to her community. She’s one of those people who inspired me to be better. She’s more like my big sister.”

Gurgacz has been an EMT herself for 13 years and said when she came to Lacey, there was a volunteer shortage, so she formed the club to get young people interested in emergency services early. The club has around 50 kids each year who learn about police, firefighting, EMS and animal rescue through monthly programs and community service projects.

“If you don’t have someone to show you how to start off, most won’t know how to get involved,” said Gurgacz. “If they start early, they may become volunteers or make careers out of it.”

Since she formed the club, she said 22 have become paid EMT’s, four are career firefighters, 14 are volunteer firefighters and many more volunteer in some capacity. She said a couple of years ago, Lanoka Harbor EMS told her that 18 percent of their membership was due to the club.

Club members take CPR classes, hold food and toy drives to benefit animal shelters and food pantries, conduct safe driving campaigns, teach others how to prevent brain injuries and run Project Crash the day before the prom, in which they recreate a crash scene to show students the consequences of irresponsible behavior behind the wheel realistically.

Gurgacz believes their club is the only one of its kind in the state.

“The people who are right for this job really and truly want to make a difference and help someone who needs it,” she said. “People in tragic times remember those who helped them cope.”

Lacey Township High School students interested in getting involved in the Emergency Services Club can find out more about it at http://lths.laceyschools.org/ under Clubs and Activities.

To nominate a special teacher for the Teacher of the Month program, visit http://thunder106.com/teacher-of-the-month.