Everything helps: GTCC alum challenges her students to make a difference for those affected by Hurricane Helene

"... While we were there, a family of six showed up, and I was able to literally put some of Southern (Guilford High School's) donations into their hands and come back and show my kids and say, ‘Look, this is the family that took these things.’ It was really neat,” said Wertz.

Briton Wertz was an undergrad student at Elon University when she began moonlighting as a student at GTCC. She found passion in helping others through a career as a firefighter and paramedic.

She and her two children lived on the N.C. coast when Hurricane Florence made landfall in 2018. They lost everything and had to start their lives over. They eventually moved to the Piedmont region, and Wertz found a way to use her career experience in a new way — as a teacher. 

Now an EMT and public safety teacher at Southern Guilford High School, Wertz is showing her students that even a little can go a long way in the wake of a disaster.

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