Junior Anna Gibb grew up watching her father and two older brothers serve their Southern Georgia community as volunteer firefighters while she spent her time working on the family farm. When Gibb turned 17 years old, she followed in her family's footsteps and underwent formal training to become a certified volunteer firefighter. Serving a county of about 12,000 people allowed Gibb to be involved in a variety of firefighting tasks. "There are a lot of rules to being a junior firefighter in bigger departments, but in our county when you volunteer, you basically became a full-on firefighter," Gibb said. Gibb manned the hoses, changed the firefighters' air filters and cleaned CATCHING THE S PARK 1111 l 1/ih l Tur11e1 I R(lc/iel rouny equipment after the action died down. Even during college, she worked with the department when she was home on breaks. After completing multiple dualenrollment course in high school, Gibb was classified as a junior b hours after only a year and a half at Harding. Even while juggling a double major in management information systems and accounting, she said her college workload was manageable. Her parents home-schooled Gibb and her three older siblings, which she believed contributed to her academic success in college. Gibb's father, Gerry, who worked as a paramedic while volunteer firefighting, said he enjoyed watching Anna grow throughout college while balancing her volunteer work. "I am proud of Anna for challenging her elf to serve God and her community like this," Gerry said. "Watching her work with the firefighters as a team encourages me that her generation is going to do great things if she continues to allow God to lead her as she leads others." In addition to fighting flames, Anna said she also liked to push herselfto the limits by traveling to unknown places - especially while studying abroad at Harding University in Latin America during the spring of 2015. Junior Maggie Cox, a friend and fellow HULA student, said Anna maintained an attitude of servant-hood during their time abroad. "Being abroad can be tough, butAnna Ju11io,- A11nu G1/ih hccomc• u cerl({iecl (irc'fighter ol the aye of 17 (Ill(/ co11li1111<'d lo Sl'rve while vi.~i/ill(J humc> d11ri11g i>l'e(lks. I Photo hy Becca Riley J l ' ~ I O H S I :i 7 was always willing to lend a helping hand," Cox said. "Whether it was by cooking meals or helping us if we got sick, she was so nice to have around when you needed a home away from home." Anna said her desire to serve was what motivated her to help her friends and work with her local fire department. Even on long nights spent fighting fires, Anna said she reminded herself why she loved her volunteer position. "Your department becomes like brotherhood, especially in volunteer firefighting," Anna said. "There are moments when I feel just as close to the other volunteers as I do to my own family. It's definitely the community and being able to serve that makes it all worth it."
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