BARTOW, Fla. — Bartow High School senior Hannah Jenkins and her friends opened up a few black garbage bags this week and poured a massive collection of stuffed animals and baby dolls onto tables in one of her Medical and Fire Academy classrooms.
“I’m excited!” Jenkins said.
The Bartow High Medical and Fire Academy cadet was required to pick a “capstone project” in which others in the academy could participate and one that demonstrates her leadership capabilities.
Jenkins, 18, said she was going to gather canned food, but then she got an idea. She decided to collect stuffed animals and dolls that Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Bartow Fire Department paramedics and firefighters could give to children who were enduring a traumatic situation. So far, she has about 200 plush pals to give away.
“I had a rough childhood growing up,” Jenkins said. “My father is, unfortunately, in jail. And then I grew into this beautiful follower of Christ.”
Jenkins wears her Christianity on her sleeve — literally. She has a tattoo that spans from just under her elbow to her wrist on the inside of her right arm that symbolizes her faith and references Proverbs 3:6: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” She also understands that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
Jenkins said she went through a rough behavioral patch as she matured, but then turned things around. In ninth grade, she heard Kozette Hubbard, who teaches health science, electrocardiogram and emergency medical rescue at the academy, along with Kenny Miles, a criminal justice instructor, talk about possible jobs in the medical field.
They “opened up my eyes to exactly what it means to be a first responder — I give them all the credit. They have nurtured me,” Jenkins said.
Between influences at school and her “very religious family,” Jenkins then decided to “do something to help, and make a name for myself, and put people before me.”
She is set to receive all but one certification from the BHS Medical and Fire Academy by the time she graduates, including emergency medical rescue, certified nursing assistant, electrocardiogram, phlebotomy and fire 1 standard.
Hubbard, whom everyone calls Mrs. Kozy, has worked as a paramedic and said the stuffed animals really do help.
“We have a little kid and bring out a stuffed animal and it does bring that stress level down,” she said. “We can do treatments because we show them what we’re going to do on the bear and then they let us do it on them.”
At a recent stuffed animal drive, Jenkins said one woman brought in 120, saying her son had been involved in a fire and had been given a bear. He carried it around with him for three years.
Sheriff Grady Judd said he is impressed with Jenkins and her leadership.
“She epitomizes what this community is all about — doing for others and providing help during some of the most stressful times of people’s lives,” Judd said. “She is what’s right with this county, with this state and this nation.
“I hear people talk about the next generation — well, Hannah represents the next generation and we’re going to be in great hands with her and people like her with that caring and ‘how-I-can-make-the-community-better’ attitude.”
Hannah’s mother, Amber Womble, got teary-eyed talking about her daughter, saying the project is wonderful.
“She has a giving heart and she is an amazing child,” Womble said. “I’m very supportive in everything that she does. I believe she can do anything that she puts her mind to — which she has.”
Jenkins’ next step is to go to her dream school — the University of Central Florida — to study nursing. She plans to become a traveling nurse, which will pay for her housing, meals and transportation, in addition to her salary. After that, she would like to become a missionary nurse, specializing in trauma.
“It’s already been put on my heart to help people,” Jenkins said.
