It was a special day for Brandon Jones as he crossed the stage at Wayne Community College’s spring graduation ceremony to receive an associate’s degree in Emergency Management.
For Jones, the day was made even more special since, just seven months earlier, he was in an accident that almost cost him his life.
Jones is a captain of the City of Goldsboro Fire Department, fire chief of the Thoroughfare Volunteer Fire Department, and assistant fire chief of Mar-Mac Volunteer Fire Department.
“I’ve been in the fire service my entire life,” Jones said.
Jones is also an adjunct instructor in WCC’s Fire Services program, which provides fire and rescue training and career development for firefighters.
Additionally, Jones had been working toward completing his associate’s degree in Emergency Management at WCC for over ten years. “I spread it out so I wasn’t overloading myself because of all the other things I had going on in my life,” he shared.
A near-fatal accident
With Jones’s schoolwork and leadership positions in several capacities, he stayed busy doing what he loved.
“But on October 28th, the rug was ripped out from under me,” Jones said.
Jones was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by a car, resulting in several broken and dislocated bones. He was flown to the hospital where he remained for months, undergoing multiple surgeries.
During that time, Jones was enrolled in his final class needed to graduate in the fall. “I was almost finished; I could see the end,” he said. But due to his accident, Jones missed many assignments and projects that were crucial to graduating and was faced with the possibility of not completing his degree. “It was crushing,” Jones said.
Determined not to let his injuries stop him, he completed the missed work in between surgeries.
“I was very limited on what I could and couldn’t do,” Jones said. While lying in the hospital’s intensive care unit, Jones completed his final exam and officially completed his degree. “It was a huge relief,” he said.
A fitting degree plan
In WCC’s online Emergency Management program, students learn to deliver emergency services with technical and managerial skills.
The program offers an associate’s degree and several certificates, as well as opportunities for graduates to transfer to the University of Mount Olive and North Carolina State University for bachelor’s degrees.
WCC’s program is ranked third highest in the nation for online Emergency Management programs in 2024 by Steps.
“WCC has an outstanding Emergency Management program,” Jones said. He hopes to become an emergency manager or fire marshal in the future.
Jones said he was already familiar with many of the standards and protocols he learned in class due to his involvement in the fire service.
“A lot of the disaster preparedness classes were easy for me to relate to whenever we had to do research and write papers,” Jones said.
The final step
Although Jones successfully earned his degree, he felt as if something was missing since he couldn’t attend his graduation ceremony.
When he was asked if he wanted to finally walk across the stage at WCC’s commencement this spring, he was honored.
Jones said WCC staff made sure he had the proper accommodations at the ceremony, and he was the first graduate to cross the stage and receive his degree.
“It made the process complete at that point,” Jones said. “It was a super special day, but there’s absolutely no way I could’ve done it if it weren’t for the faculty and staff at WCC.”
Jones is currently on light duty with the City of Goldsboro Fire Department. He is still using a walker for assistance and is monitoring bone growth, but he’s thankful to experience life in the present moment.
“I’m truly blessed that WCC helped me the way that they did,” Jones shared. “I have had some really hard days, but the faculty and staff helped me out a lot and did what they had to do to make sure I graduated.”
