Inspired By Her Mentor

Kiersten Spears has vivid memories of when she started working with with Dennis Burgos. It was the fall of 2014, her first semester at Onondaga Community College in the Fire Protection Technology degree program. She was a new member of Student Patrol and Burgos, who was a retired State Trooper, was a Security Guard with Campus Safety and Security. "We would walk around campus together and he would say hello to literally everyone. I asked him if he knew everyone and he would say 'yes. You can never have a bad day if someone walks up to you and says hello first.'"

Burgos' eternally optimistic outlook and perpetual smile belied the life and death struggle he was engaged in. While working as a State Trooper, he was sent to New York City in the hours following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The air he breathed in there would eventually sicken him and he contracted lung cancer.

Despite his condition Burgos never stopped being the first to say "hello" and mentoring others. He took Spears under his wing and became the person she could go to when she was struggling. "He was constantly pushing me to do better. When I would tell him about a problem I was having he would say 'this is just an obstacle in the road. Keep going.' He would always tell me to 'keep going' or 'push through it.'"

Burgos was always there for Spears despite his own battle. And with each significant accomplishment in her journey, the first person she wanted to share it with was Burgos. "I hit a rough patch during one of my last semesters but my grades never slipped because of him. I finished a class with a 100% grade point average. I brought my 45-page final exam to him. I told him I got a 100 and he was so excited for me. I'll never forget it."

In May of 2017 Spears completed work toward her Fire Protection Technology degree. Unfortunately Burgos' condition took a turn for the worse that year and he passed away in December.

His spirit lived on in Spears. When she applied for a scholarship in SUNY Upstate Medical University's Paramedic program, she wrote an essay about him and was awarded a scholarship. She earned her degree and became a nationally registered paramedic, was promoted to Lieutenant in the Liverpool Fire Department, and was hired as a paramedic with WAVES Ambulance in Camillus.

With each milestone she achieved, Spears visited Burgos' headstone at Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse and shared her news. "It's my safe spot. I graduated college because of him. I passed my paramedic exam for him. He would have been ecstatic to know I got a scholarship because of him and made lieutenant."

Spears' new passion is teaching. She spends part of every summer working as an instructor at an all-girls fire academy in Utica, working side-by-side with lieutenants and chiefs from the New York City Fire Department. "My goal is to become an instructor and get more women involved in this career. I'm not going to stop until I reach it. That drive and determination is the biggest thing I inherited from Dennis. Sometimes I think 'what would Dennis do?' When I realize the answer, that's what I do. He  made a lasting impact on me that will continue. I don't think I will ever let it go."

Last month, on December 17, the College paid tribute to Burgos by dedicating a plaque in his honor at the 9/11 remembrance site outside the Whitney Applied Technology Center. Alumna Wendy Faulkner, who perished on 9/11, was also recognized with a plaque at the same ceremony.

Burgos is also recognized on  Campus Safety's Security Guard vehicles where "G-1" has been added to each front upper fender. "G-1" was Burgos' call unit when he was on duty.