Marion Military Institute (MMI) recently dedicated its new First Responder Building and thanked community and state partners in its latest workforce development endeavor. The building, a former Alabama Power office, is now a training and instructional base for MMI cadets in the firefighting, EMT and law-enforcement career tracks.
MMI’s first responder program began in 2016 with one cadet, Chris Simmons, who became a certified EMT through a partnership with the Alabama Fire College (AFC), commuting three days a week for classes in Tuscaloosa. The MMI program has transitioned to mostly online instruction and on-campus training with the continuing support and resources of the AFC.
MMI’s law-enforcement program was added in 2020, with the Montgomery Police Department and the Shelby County Sherriff’s Office coming onboard as official partners. Since its first law-enforcement graduate, Derrikah Gardner, completed the program in spring 2021, it has attracted more participants. Now counting 32 first-responder cadets enrolled this fall, this MMI group is quickly growing.
“We saw an opportunity to create more career opportunities for our cadets, opportunities that would capitalize on those same character traits that would attract them to come to a college like ours – a sense of discipline, of service and the courage to take a path more difficult than the norm,” said Col. Ed Passmore (Ret.), MMI’s senior vice president, told the crowd gathered for the building dedication. “Out of this vision was born MMI’s first-responder program.”
Along with its official partners, MMI thanked the following donors for their grants, equipment donations and financial support: Central Alabama Works/Alabama Community College System; Delta Regional Authority/Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission; the MMI Foundation and MMI Alumni Brigade. Donations of equipment, construction of a metal building and the purchase, additions and renovations for the First Responder Building represent more than $250,000 of investment.
Passmore also thanked Marion Mayor Dexter Hinton, the Marion Volunteer Fire Department, Marion Police Department and Perry County Sherriff’s Office for their support.
The afternoon began with a Pass in Review by the MMI Corps of Cadets on the quad, followed by a ribbon-cutting across the street at the First Responder Building, where cadets performed a shooting simulation as well as EMT and fire rescue demonstrations.
(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)
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