‘Tis the season of graduations on Whidbey Island.

South Whidbey High School sent 118 seniors on toward young adulthood, as did South Whidbey Academy with another 11. South Whidbey Fire/EMS welcomes seven new emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to its first responder ranks.

Training to be an EMT runs a wide gamut, from treating allergic reactions to broken cheek bones.

South Whidbey Fire and EMS now has 56 volunteer emergency medical technicians. The recent graduates and their stations are: Dareld Chittim and Anne Collins at Maxwelton; Brent Davison at Clinton; Kelly Cammermeyer, Will Piepenbrink and Pamela Uhlig at Langley and Mark Swenson at Saratoga.

“The greatest reward of serving as an EMT will be helping people and becoming involved in my community in a new way,” Cammermeyer said.

Washington requires students to complete at least 150 hours of instruction and pass written and practical examinations. These requirements take three months to complete.

“Our mutual response with Whidbey General Hospital makes it possible to have responders available from numerous locations,” said Division Chief Connie Shields.

The next EMT training course in Island County will begin in January. Training in 2014 will be held on Central or North Whidbey. In 2015, the training will return to South Whidbey. Those interested in becoming an active member of the SWFEMS team as an EMT should contact Shields at ems@swfe.org