Fire Prevention Day at Maple Lane Elementary School 📕

Today’s visit to Maple Lane Elementary School was one for the books ... literally. 📚

I spent the morning reading Girls Can Be Firefighters Too with both third-grade classes during an interactive storytime in the gym. The book was displayed on a huge touchscreen TV, so every student could see the pages up close as we read together. Between each section of the story, I paused to ask fire prevention questions; things like when to call 911, what smoke alarms are for, and how to stay calm in an emergency.

The students were all in, hands shooting up every time I pulled out one of my firefighter cue cards. Each correct answer earned a piece of candy (it is Halloween tomorrow, after all), and the energy in the room was nothing but excitement and pride.

This visit was especially close to my heart because one of those third-graders was my son, Cameron Duncan. His classmates always light up when they see “Cameron’s mom, the firefighter.” Out of nearly fifty students, only three didn’t already have a copy of the book, and we made sure everyone left with one by the end of the day.

Days like this remind me why I do it... showing up, sparking curiosity, and letting kids see that courage and kindness come in many forms, especially the form of a mom ❤️

- Donye’ Price
Firefighter / Author / Founder of My SereniTeas