Preparing NextGen of Emergency Officials

Nashua's Emergency Management director is about to share the secret behind his intern program.

Drum roll, please.

"My goal is when I bring on an intern, I want someone to be capable enough to hire me later," Kates says with a straight face. "They have to be that good."

And then a broad smile spreads across his face – not because he's kidding; he's not. The smile is because Kates genuinely loves what he does, and especially loves the opportunity to be a mentor to future emergency management professionals.

It's something he says he learned from his previous boss, Bob George, Program Manager at Delaware Emergency Management Agency.

"That's why I wanted to start an intern program here in Nashua, because I saw how successful it was in Delaware," Kates said.

Bob George said the key to launching a successful internship program is finding someone who is willing to provide the patience, time and skill it takes to show someone else the ropes.

"Justin has a terrific personality for that, and I think one reason why he's so successful is that he's paying something back to the emergency management community, which is still getting established in many municipalities," George said.

Because such programs are relatively new, they are also not as entrenched in existing governmental systems, George said. 

FEMA has identified the rise of emergency managers as part of the "Whole Community" trend in readiness at the state and local levels.

"The role of an emergency management professional is being able to introduce programs to established entities, like fire and police, and build partnerships," George said.

In the two years he's been in Nashua, Kates has worked closely with the city's fire and police departments in a number of situations, from power outages and shelter set-up during "Snowtober's" Hurricane Irene, to Superstorm Sandy, several New England-style snow events, oil spills, and even a railroad coal car mishap.

Since launching the program here he's had six interns. His most recent two, Ryan Baker, a Rivier University student from Northbridge, Mass., and Emily Martuscello, a George Washington University graduate from Dover, fit the profile.

But they say their emergency management tool kit is much more complete now, thanks to their experience working alongside Kates. Above all else, the internship has given them invaluable real-life experience – stuff they don't teach you in school, says Martuscello. 

"In next few months I'll be working full time doing emergency management, thanks to a few opportunities that came up," said Martuscello, who will be firming up her job offer by the end of May.

"This job gave me all the practical, hands-on experience I could need," she said.

Baker is a junior studying criminal justice and psychology with a minor in one of Rivier's newest programs, Transnational Security, which deals with global security issues. She still has some time to focus in on her future, but is taking her LSATS in June and is considering law school, for now.

"FEMA paperwork sounds boring, but it's really interesting to learn how complicated the process is for a municipality to get reimbursed," Martuscello said.

A previous intern single-handedly handled the social media aspect of keeping residents informed during Superstorm Sandy, Kates said. In many ways, interns are perfectly suited to such tasks because their youthful enthusiasm is bolstered by their youthful comfort with technology, social media and mastering computer programs with minimal training.

FEMA paperwork is just one of the things Nashua's OEM interns learned to tackle in the past five months. Kates said Baker and Martuscello were also instrumental in the success of the city's first CERT training class, which had more than 50 citizen students enrolled (link here to the Nashua CERT Facebook page).

Another previous intern, Derek Caswell, from Daniel Webster College, got the ball rolling for the CERT program, setting up an online registration page and documentation used to schedule classes.

"He also helped to do analytics for a new comprehensive emergency plan," Kates said. "Even as the city's emergency manager, I'm not the expert. There were things he was capable of doing because of his knowledge of graphs and statistics, and it was valuable to me that he was able to put that stuff together. In any job, hiring the right people is key," Kates said.

Kates found his own way to emergency management through the back door. As a high school senior he was looking forward to being an electrical engineer. Then he heard about a CERT program in his home state of Delaware that was looking for a volunteer coordinator.  

"I figured I had some time over the summer before starting school for electrical engineering, and figured it would be a worthwhile experience for me. I had such a great time doing it, I changed my major to Emergency Management," Kates said. "I probably cut my paycheck in half in the process, but I really loved the work."

With Baker and Martuscello ready to move on, Kates is ready to recruit.

Although he originally required interns to be enrolled in, or graduates of, an emergency management curriculum or related major, he's recently broadened the scope.

"Now it's open to all majors, because emergency management is really like being the city manager, except only during emergencies. But you have to interface with every department within the city as well as external organizations," Kates said.

He's gathering applications, including a promising one from an accounting major who's interested in the summer internship.

"The FEMA paperwork requires  a lot of math and auditing and accounting, so she could put together a procedure on how we keep and document all our costs during a disaster, and back-up documentation. Even for an accounting major, it's an experience she will never be able to replicate; it's unique," Kates said.

He hires strictly based on the candidate's resume, but always has a sit-down interview.

"The interview is a formality – it's really just a chance for them to figure out their interests and how to portray themselves in a professional setting. It's another way to offer them some real-life experience," Kates said.

Martuscello said she had originally thought about a degree in political communication, so she has worked on applying that to her work for the city of Nashua, quite applicable during any emergency situation.

Baker said one of her biggest take-aways has been learning to develop her communication skills.

"The first time I was here I made a phone call and was talking on the phone so fast, I don't think they could understand a word I was saying. I'm way better with people now. I'm much more confident," Baker said.

"And she taught herself how to use Publisher and created a great brochure for our CERT program," said Kates, bragging a little, like the proud mentor he is. 

"This internship also makes me realize there's a lot of politics involved in emergency management. It's important to learn how to work with people. I learned a lot about who you know, and how you talk to different people about things – when to be patient, or when to try another avenue. That's a lesson you won't learn in class," Baker said. 

For Martuscello, the community outreach aspect of the internship has been most rewarding, and something she hopes to expand on in her next job.

"I love watching it all coming together, from starting to advertise and getting people to sign up, and then organize the class – we had a waiting list. People are still trying to get in on it. I love that," she said.

Kates said the experience wasn't without its minor internal emergencies – like the time Baker assembled the inside suspension gear backwards on the whole batch of CERT training hardhats, or the time Marscutello accidentally snapped the wheels off an equipment cart she was assembling. 

"I make mistakes too. Part of the job is figuring out how to work around mistakes, and that's what we did.  I don't think an internship should be about fetching coffee or doing busy work. I bring my interns with me to meetings, and try to assign them projects they can take ownership of and follow to completion. That's a skill set I think many young people lack, for various reasons," Kates said.

Which reminds him to remind Martuscello that she needs to put together a how-to manual for the next interns, on how to organize a CERT training class.

Providing free part-time labor for the city was well worth it, they both say – Baker earned three college credits, and Martuscello got to attend an emergency preparedness certification course at the FEMA Emergency Training Institute in Maryland, which allows her to be a project manager and trainer for CERT.

"All the time I spend in Delaware and I've never even attended a class there, so yes, I'd say that's a pretty good perk of being an intern," Kates said.

Click here to learn more about Nashua's Emergency Management internship program, or to apply for the next opening.