2023 REMA SCHOLARSHIP RICIPIENTS

The Retired and Active Emergency Service Members Association wishes to extend it’s heartfelt thanks to all those that submitted essays for consideration. Congratulations go out to the following three winners and their families for successfully entering and achieving the honor of being awarded the First Annual Chief Walter E. Klotzback Scholarship. The essays were an outstanding example of the values instilled upon you, as a family member within our venerable history of life saving services, performed for more than 90 years of service to the City of New York by ESU.

On behalf of the entire REMA membership, we wish all of the entrants continued success in their education and future careers.

To view the winning essays, click on a name.

First prize: Paige Thatcher, Daughter of Active REMA member Detective Russell Thatcher, ESU.
Second prize: Lorelei Garssi, Grand daughter of Retired REMA member Lieutenant. Mike Latimer, ESU.
Third prize: Shannon Miller, Daughter of Retired REMA member Detective Steven Miller, ESU 

paige thatcher

Hurricanes Irma and Maria had many devastating effects on the people in its path, but little did I know this natural disaster would help me find my calling. My father, Russell Thatcher, is part of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Service Unit and FEMA’s NY-Task Force 1. I have witnessed first hand how my father has made positive impacts on other people’s lives. The first memory I have of my father’s call to service was in 2017, when Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused tremendous devastation to Puerto Rico. Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, my father was deployed to Puerto Rico to aid in relief efforts. During his deployments he worked long hours, wasn’t able to be in contact with his family, and never had an exact date on when he would come home. While not being able to talk to my dad for weeks or even months at a time was frustrating for my 12 year old self, I was able to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for his service to others.

While in Puerto Rico, he rescued people from their homes that were no longer on foundations and missing roofs. He brought fresh water and food to people he saw bathing in streams and filling buckets with rain water for drinking. The hospitals had no power so he helped create a pulley system spanning an impassable river (formally a road) to bring medicine to doctors and people. No matter how tired my dad felt, the overwhelming smell of mud from the horrific landslides, paired with the overall devastation to the island, pushed him to keep going. His work there was making a difference. Because of this life changing experience of his, I was able to understand the commitment to serving others and recognize the tireless efforts of first responders during any circumstances.

I have seen countless examples of heroism through my father making positive impacts on others, and as I grew an appreciation for his career, I immediately knew I wanted to follow a path that would also lead me to bringing light to situations during dark times. When I realized the effects my dad had on the lives of others, it has inspired me to pursue a career in nursing. During my junior year of high school, I was accepted into the “Healthcare Career Exploration Internship Program” through Saint Catherine’s Hospital, where I learned about many careers within the medical field. Throughout this internship experience, I realized that nursing is a dynamic career, and wherever I end up within the nursing field there will always be an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. To me, a career in nursing is more than just keeping patients healthy and caring for them medically. It is about forming connections and building trust with patients and their families to make them as comfortable as possible during difficult times. I witnessed this firsthand when having the unfortunate opportunity to see the important role nurses play when my cousin was diagnosed with leukemia. Each time I visited her in her hospital room, the nurses took on a double role as both caregiver and friend. Rachel trusted her nurses with her medical care while also being individuals she could joke with, bond with, and become part of her team.

With that being said, I am eager to start this next chapter in my life and make a positive impact on the lives of others, similar to my dad and the nurses I’ve met. I am excited to attend the University of Alabama’s Capstone College of Nursing. This is an excellent nursing program where I can learn the skills needed to be the best caregiver and friend. I envision a future achieving personal growth as a nurse and I will carry on my dads legacy of helping others.

LORELEI GRASSI

Michael Latimer, or Boppie to me and 16 other grandchildren, served in the New York City Police Department for decades. I have always known this about him, but truthfully, I have not spoken to him much about it, nor do I know many details about his career. Our conversations tend to be about family, school and the holidays. He always has a corny joke to share and a warm hug to give, but rarely, if ever, shares his work experiences. I appreciate this chance you are giving me to consider how his life has affected mine, and I have recognized now, I am grateful for something I did not even realize I had – exposure to a tradition of service.

By getting curious about Boppie, I learned that after being severely injured at work when my mom was little, he was given the chance to pick his next job, and he chose ESU. This does not surprise me. Knowing the man my grandfather is, of course he would choose the role where he felt he could help the most people, where he knew he could even help other first responders. Plus, my mother says she thinks he thought he looked better in a baseball cap. I was told he loved his job, so much so he retired once, and returned to his truck shortly after. 

I think kids learn more by example than they do by being told what to do. My mother is proof of this. She went to medical school, and became a Family Physician, because this is the specialty where she believed she could have the most impact. She spends all her patient time now volunteering at a clinic for the working uninsured, an underserved group. Like Boppie, she also does not bring home work stories or talk about how many people she is helping. She just serves, and I imagine she gets this from him. I don’t know if it is in her DNA, or if it is what she saw growing up, but I presume it may be a little of both.

As the middle of five children, helping others was not something I could easily avoid. My big sisters always needed a favor, and my little brothers always needed help. It used to be tying shoes and wiping faces, but now, it is rides to practice and giving advice. Being needed does not bother me, in fact I enjoy how it makes me feel useful. Knowing this about myself has encouraged me to find other ways to help, so I wonder if it is also in my DNA. Community matters, something based on their choices, both my grandfather and mother believe. Thinking globally is important, but making an impact close to home is especially rewarding. As a junior board member at my local YMCA, I had the opportunity to work with local leaders and give the teen perspective through the especially challenging time of the
pandemic.We worked hard to provide mental health services and workshops for kids and adolescents. What we developed during that time has inspired other projects and grant proposals continuing today.

When I think about my personal service to others, I am most proud of creating The Helium Project last year. It started with an attempt to create a Wellness Club at my high school, but has developed into something much bigger. I designed it as a way to incorporate more joy and lightness into school communities, which have been darkened over the past years by the increase in depression and anxiety. It is now being used in four schools with more to come.

Given this opportunity to consider the values my grandfather instilled in me by choosing and succeeding in a career where you are put in the position to risk your life to help others, has made me realize there are many ways in which his ESU experience has positively inspired me. While, again, it is not something we talk about, his work ethic, leadership, kindness and courage, I hope, have also had a trickle down effect. It is nice to consider that maybe when I am at my best self, which isn’t always, I am showing the best our family has to offer. I have been working and making my own money since I was twelve. No one told me I had to do this. When I am leading in school or on the soccer field, when I am volunteering with special needs children, or when I need to find some inner strength when faced with a challenge, it is comforting to think a little of Boppie is with me.

These are all values I will carry with me into college and the rest of my life. They are all meaningful, and they will all continue to shape me into the person I hope to become – someone who works hard, leads by example, and has the fortitude to show kindness even when it is difficult. Most importantly though, by writing this essay, I found I am most grateful for my grandfather’s example of the importance of serving others. I hope to model the ESU motto in this, and to live a life where helping is a priority, “Anytime, Anywhere, Any Place.”

SHANNON MILLER

The Values Instilled in Me from Being a Child of a REMA Member

My name is Shannon Miller. I am fourteen years old and am currently a student at Saint William the Abbot school in Seaford. I am in the eighth grade, soon to be in ninth grade at Kellenberg Memorial High School. I am one of four children in my family and my dad, Steve(n) Miller, has been retired from Emergency Service for five years. He was in Emergency Service for seventeen years. My dad, overall, has been a police officer for almost twenty-two years. He was also part of the FEMA team and New York Task Force One with other Emergency Service members. My dad has taught me many of the values that being a police officer has brought and
has brought them to my attention to become a better person.

My dad would be sent to hurricanes and natural disasters to help people in need. He always showed bravery by choosing to help those when natural disasters occured. He told me never to give up, try to solve these problems because you will learn from them. My dad is great at seeing something, figuring it out, and then fixing it or solving it. He taught me to never give up, to take a step back and try to work the problem out the best that you can. My dad also belongs to a hunting/fishing club that has lots of acres with a lot of trails to hike, fish and ride ATVs. I go with my dad to hike the trails while looking for animals and trees. I found a tiny lizard one time hidden in the rocks! We also go camping a lot. My dad taught me how to set up camp and build a fire. My dad, as far as I can remember, was always involved in doing things, he never sat still. He was always full of energy. I am becoming the same person. He would take us fishing and I would even bait my own hook, which took a bit of practice, focus, and patience. We go to church every Sunday where my dad and brothers are ushers at our Church and where I am an altar server. I volunteer a lot at the library and also at church and school events. At my school
I am part of the Buddy program to help kids in my school that are in kindergarten and first grade.
In that program I help the kids with behavior during church and in class.

My dad has taught me to be respectful and honest. Some ways I can be respectful is by doing the right thing. I also use behavior that protects our environment and that follows the law like not littering, volunteering for the benefit of society, and also using polite language. I am also a part of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) at my school. This is where I participate in a variety of volunteer activities such as the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The St. Vincent de Paul Society helps those who are unable to afford items of need. One thing that we’ve done for this society was collecting toys for children during Christmastime. My dad and mom have both helped me reach the goal of getting inducted into NJHS by encouraging me to do my best and use determination to get good grades which were a necessity for induction into NJHS.

One time, I asked my dad, “What did you want to be when you were growing up?” He told me that when he was little he used to watch a TV show called SWAT. He said that always wanted to be a SWAT officer. He never gave up on that dream and eventually reached it. A word I like to use to describe my dad’s hard work and determination in resilience. I like this word because it means that you can overcome many things with focus, strength, and like I said, determination. My dad said that you can be anything you want. You just have to try as hard as you can and apply yourself. He’s a great role model for my brothers and I. My brothers now want
to be police officers when they are older and follow in his footsteps. All the men in my family on my mom’s side are or were police officers, which is also a great influence for me and my brothers.

My heart is set on being a teacher which will also bring about these same values that my dad has taught me through my years as a kid. I can apply these aspects of the work of many devoted men, like my father, to my own life to become an even more respectful person. Teaching still uses these values that will help me to become a better and more respectful person. I can now use my dad’s wisdom to help me on my journey through high school next year and later on in my life. I hope that I will follow in his steps and make him proud!