Ten Caledonia teens receive their babysitter’s wings

   Ten Caledonia area teens completed the Caledonia Fire Department’s babysitters training course. The new babysitters received graduation certificates and were honored at a dinner banquet held April 1 at J.W. Jones Hall. Caledonia Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary prepared and served a roast beef dinner prior to the start of the program.

   Several fire department officers and special guests attended the graduation banquet including Caledonia Fire Chief Tony Demarco, Mumford Fire Chief Mike Burnside, President Dennis Chapman, Town Supervisor Daniel Pangrazio, Livingston County Assistant District Attorney Kyle Mackay, Livingston County Family Court Judge Dennis Cohen and other fire department members.

   Assistant D.A. MacKay told the students that he completed the course when he was a young teen and that he has used the valuable training he received many times in life.

   Judge Cohen, who decides court cases involving children every day, told the students he was proud of their commitment to learn how to become responsible caregivers of children.

   Supervisor Daniel Pangrazio recognized Don Manley, a Caledonia firefighter who was part of the first babysitters training class staff, held in 1965. Manley was on hand to help recognize the graduates of this year’s class.

   Chief Tony DeMarco, a father and grandfather, told the class that they will become babysitters for life. Caring for kids is not something you do only when hired by the parents, it’s something you do for the rest of your life with your own children and later, grandchildren, DeMarco told the graduates.

   Larry Heins and Patricia Lysko chair the babysitters training course and coordinated the instruction that includes police and personal safety, fire prevention training and basic first aid. Caledonia Police officer Daniel Chapman and GVEMS medic Donna Bailey present the law enforcement and first aid instruction.

   Students are required to write an essay that conveys what they have learned and how they will carry out the responsibilities of caring for children. They must also design a poster depicting two safe exit routes, using the floor plan of their own home. The essays and escape routes are judged are prizes are awarded for the top three in each category.

   Essay winners are Meghan Chapman, David Eadie and Teara Fitchette. Escape Route poster winners are Jordon Terzo, Elaina Riggi and Morgan Hallett.

   Since the class began in 1965, the Caledonia FD babysitter training course has been highly regarded by law enforcement and ambulance professionals as the most comprehensive and successful long standing child care training programs in Livingston County.