Whiz Kid: Dan Barger Fights Fire at Fox Valley Career Center

For a few hours every morning this year, Dan Barger hurtled through obstacle courses, found missing objects while blindfolded and raced to put on bulky gear in less than a minute.

At 11:30 a.m., he returned to Geneva Community High School and finished his classes—just another typical day.

But Barger, 17, is not a typical student.

As part of the Fox Valley Career Center’s Fire Science I program, Barger and several other GHS students faced a military-based regimen of intense training.  Every morning, the students would stand at attention until their instructor came in, say the pledge of allegiance and take a moment of silence to honor fallen firefighters. 

They spent the rest of the day doing hands-on drills, from using the Jaws of Life to rescue people from accident scenes to learning CPR.

And Barger loved every minute of it. “It’s the only reason I went to school,” he joked. “Every day was my favorite.”

Barger and his classmates graduated from the program on May 25 in an elaborate ceremony, and he plans to pursue firefighting as a career when he graduates from college.

Before college, though, Barger hopes to springboard his firefighting career in the Marines, and the Fire Science course he took this year gave him the skills he’ll need. 

“It teaches you discipline, a sense of accomplishment and a sense of belonging,” said his mother, Christine Barger-Snyder. 

When her son told her about his plans to enlist, Barger-Snyder said she wasn’t surprised. Barger’s grandfathers both served in the military, his uncle was in the navy, and his cousin is in the army. 

“We’re just a military family,” Barger-Snyder said, smiling. “As a mother, you worry, but it’s a very honorable thing, so we support what he wants to do.”

Barger can’t remember ever wanting to do anything else. “I’ve always liked helping people in dangerous situations,” he said. Luckily, the Fire Science instructors at FVCC have helped Barger-Snyder ease her fears over her son’s safety. 

“They always (tell the students), ‘Just remember, you’re not alone. You’ve always got a partner … that’s going to be with you, and you’ll never be left behind,’ ” Barger-Snyder said. 

That sense of brotherhood was one of Barger's favorite things about the class. On graduation day, the seniors each received a “challenge coin,” a tradition that started in the military and spread to firehouses and police stations around the nation as a symbol of pride and partnership. Barger said he hopes to meet fellow firemen 20 years from now and compare coins.

Of course, Barger’s only a junior, so he doesn’t have his challenge coin yet, but this young patriot already has that covered—he’s enrolled in Fire Science II at FVCC next year.

For more information about courses offered at Fox Valley Career Center, visit http://www.foxvalleycc.org.

Whiz Kid: Dan Barger

Whiz Kid’s School: Geneva Community High School

Whiz Kid’s Accomplishment: U.S. Marine and fireman in training