Curtis Woody Jr. is a fire captain with the Greensboro Fire Department in North Carolina. Together with his wife, a nurse, they are raising two children, striving to lead lives of impact and servanthood.
“As with any family in public service, we spend the majority of our lives helping others. I don’t do it for the pay, but instead I do it to help people.”
Woody is the recipient of the 2018 CSU Fire scholarship, which will cover up to 60 hours in one online degree program. He plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in fire administration.
“I feel that with this degree and advancement within my department, I could continue to help those around me,” he said.
“I met with a retired captain a few weeks ago and I told him that I really liked where I was as a captain and I thought I would stay there. He looked me in the eyes and said, ‘you are not going to like this, but that is selfish.’ I took it in and he said, ‘As a captain, you have an impact on four to eight people at your station. As a battalion chief, you could have an impact on so many more people.’ It really opened my eyes and made me realize that I want to impact as many people as I can while I am here.”
Now, Woody plans to seek advancement to the battalion chief level at his department and then to a safety officer position later on.
This goal is fueled by a subject that hits very close to home for Woody.
“Cancer research is an important issue that we are working with right now. I guess it is a subject that hits close to home being a cancer survivor myself. I just don’t want people to have to go through what I went through when I was told I had cancer,” he said.
Woody is passionate about educating others on the growing issue of cancer in the fire service industry and has been a part of implementing programs in his department to minimize the risk.
“When I came to the department 17 years ago, heart attacks were the number one killer of firefighters. Today, cancer has taken over,” he said. “If I can do anything to keep others from having to go through what I did, then I feel that I have done my job.”
“Being a safety officer, I believe I could have the greatest impact on firefighter safety within the department. Being in that role, I could continue to fight for new ways to keep our firefighters safe and help take care of those who might be going through issues with their health.”
Very well deserved C.J. See you at Christmans.