Hero Behind the Hero Scholarship winner — Steven McCain
For Steven McCain, a firefighter/EMT with Dolton (Ill.) Fire Department, winning a Hero Behind the Hero Scholarship will allow him to pursue a passion — helping others.
“I will now have the opportunity to obtain the information needed to help better serve the communities I serve with the enhanced knowledge and education in management and quality leadership capabilities obtained from CSU,” said McCain, who is also the fire chief for Dixmoor (Ill.) Fire Department.
With the scholarship, he plans to pursue an online bachelor’s degree in fire administration at CSU. The award honors the spouses and children of active-duty public safety personnel (firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMTs and dispatchers) and National Guard and active-duty military men and women, and covers tuition for up to 24 months for one specific online degree program with CSU. The scholarship is awarded six times a year.
McCain is the son of Deputy Chief Patrick McCain of Tinley Park Police Department.
The younger McCain, who started as a volunteer firefighter with Garden Homes (Ill.) Fire Department in 2001, has strove to improve his career over the years “for myself, but most importantly for my fellow firefighters.”
McCain explained, “I truly believe that knowledge is power and training creates discipline. My desire is to continue to help the candidate firefighter. Those individuals are the future. It is our job to empower them with the experiences and education that we, as veteran firefighters, have in-order to guide them down the right path to be a successful firefighter in this wonderful career that we call the fire service.”
To learn more about the Hero Behind the Hero Scholarship, please call 888-785-3006 or send an email to hero@columbiasouthern.edu. If you would like to learn more about CSU, please visit www.ColumbiaSouthern.edu.
