Firefighter Museum Exhibit Golden For Freedom High Girl Scout By Celeste McLaughlin
Jennifer Guggemos is a junior at Freedom High working toward the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, known as the Gold Award. To earn this prestigious award, the young member of the Sunset Scouts Troop 795 (which has been meeting at the McDonald’s in Tampa Palms for eight years) must dedicate at least 80 hours to a project that provides a “lasting, sustainable benefit” to her community. So, Guggemos is teaming up with Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) District Chief Susan Tamme to create a museum exhibit called “Women of TFR,” to show girls the career paths available to them in the fire department, and to honor the women who serve Tampa in this capacity. Tamme oversees five fire stations, including New Tampa’s three stations (TFR Station Nos. 20, 21, and 22). She has worked for TFR for more than 20 years. Nearly two years ago, she became the first and remains the only female fire chief in the history of the department. “It’s a fantastic career,” says Tamme, who cites the schedule (one day working, then two days off), the “stable, consistent” pay, the camaraderie of the firefighting “family” and the rewards of helping people as reasons why she would encourage her own daughter — and other girls like her — to consider a career with the fire department. “It’s not just running into burning
Local Girl Scout and Freedom High junior Jennifer Guggemos (left) has teamed up with Tampa Fire Rescue District Chief Susan Tamme as Guggemos tries to earn a prestigious Gold Award. ing emergency situations. buildings,” Tamme explains. The museum display will highlight Tamme says she’s excited to partner 10 different career opportunities availwith the Girl Scouts for this project, hopable, including fire prevention (inspecing that the partnership will allow many tors), emergency medical services, and girls to come through the museum, see even tactical medical response teams to the display, and learn about the career support police operations. opportunities available to them. “If someone is interested in business Tamme has already reached one or management, they can work toward young woman with her message — Guga career as an officer, like my job,” says gemos herself, who says she had no idea Tamme. “I now manage 50 people.” so many different career paths were availGuggemos teamed up with Tamme able at the fire department. “I’ve learned a lot,” says Guggeafter working with the fire department on an earlier service project. To earn her mos. “I’ve really enjoyed being around Silver Award, Guggemos collected more firefighters and it’s so cool to see what they do.” than 1,200 stuffed animals for the fire She says the female firefighters she’s department to provide to children dur-
spoken with often tell her their stories, and there’s one she’s heard that is particularly inspiring. “People told me I couldn’t do it,” Guggemos says one female firefighter told her. “But, here I am.” Guggemos says she is learning leadership skills as she works with three different committees to put this exhibit together. The museum display is expected to open in March, which is widely recognized as Women’s History Month. It will be part of the Tampa Firefighters Museum, located at 720 E. Zack St. in downtown Tampa. Guggemos and Tamme are currently raising funds to make their plans a reality. The Tampa Firefighters Museum has agreed to match whatever funding is raised for the project, which Tamme estimates could cost $15,000. It will include an artistic display with photographs and videos about each of the 10 different careers available within the Tampa Fire Department. It also will include brochures to be available to museum visitors. For information about the Tampa Firefighters Museum, visit TampaFireMuseum.com. To learn more about supporting the fund-raising efforts for the “Women in Tampa Fire Rescue” museum display, contact Guggemos at TampaFireExhibit.GoldAward@ yahoo.com.
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