Crafton Hills College welcomes back Paramedic Program alumni with special reunion

Publish Date: Sept. 5, 2023

Crafton Hills College’s paramedic program has trained some of the best in the field since its inception in the 1970s. And to mark the program’s 100th graduating class, Yucaipa’s little college on the hill welcomed paramedic alumni back to campus with a lively reception in the Crafton Center on Friday, Aug. 25.

During the hour-long reunion, dozens shook hands, hugged, chatted about their lives since graduating and shared trade secrets and offered bits of advice to soon-to-be-grads.

“It’s crazy to see who has come before us and went through what we went through and how times have changed,” said Tucker Johnson, a 22-year-old Hemet resident and 100th class speaker. He added how much he appreciated hearing their stories and getting their advice.

And there was no better person to get advice from than Steve Nunn, a member of the program’s first graduating class, who said returning to campus was a “time warp.” As Johnson and Nunn interacted, Johnson’s face lit up as he soaked in an extended handshake and listened intently as Nunn spoke.

“It’s a real trip to … be a part of this,” shared Nunn. “When we first started the class [in 1977] we did not have a guarantee that we would be certified because of all the political problems and the paperwork, etcetera. So, we went through all the didactic phase and the clinical phase, not knowing whether we would have a license at the end of the deal.”

But they did, and Nunn went on to have a successful career in the field, eventually promoting out. Yet, he never forgot his Crafton roots and would later return to campus as a paramedic instructor and a preceptor. “I’ve seen the evolution of the program,” Nunn continued, “and the fact that we’ve had 100 continuous classes come through is crazy, it’s a record.”

Johnson later explained that there’s a lot of pressure on him and his classmates being the 100th class. But Nunn and Program Director Amanda Ward believe the field will be in good hands. Nunn offered, “We all know what each of us have gone through, and when I see an ambulance and I see some ‘kids’ driving those ambulances, I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, I know exactly what they’re going through.”

Crafton Hills College’s paramedic program is offered three times a year and has a 96 percent pass rate on the National Registry Exam over the last three years, with over 95 percent of program graduates employed as paramedics within six months of graduation.

To learn more about the program or to apply, go to www.craftonhills.edu/paramedic.