THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100330
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 66 lines
Just call her Little Miss EMT.
That's short for emergency medical technician, and is the unlikely nickname given Rebecca White by her classmates at Northeastern High School.
It's no wonder, though. The 15-year-old has aced paramedic courses, made perfect scores on all her health and first aid tests at school, qualified as an open water diver and will soon become a rescue diver. She aspires to be a rescue diver in the Army.
``Most of my friends go to school and work afterwards or hang out,'' Rebecca said. ``I'm a little different.''
Rebecca leaves school early to work at Etna Snack Mart in front of Southgate Mall, where her mother, Alice White, is manager. Two nights a week, Alice takes Rebecca to the Chesapeake Bay Diving Center in Portsmouth, where she receives several hours of intensive scuba training. She also takes private lessons from Randy Hall, a diver from Elizabeth City.
At 115 pounds, Rebecca puts on an air tank weighing 45 pounds, a 25-pound suit, a 60-pound weight belt and 30 pounds of other paraphernalia such as flippers and mask before stepping overboard. In a recent class, she had to haul her scuba partner, Sam ``Buddy'' Mickey Jr., across 200 yards of open water.
He is more than 6 feet tall and weighs 240 pounds.
But Rebecca says that's nothing compared to the fright she got during her first open-water dive.
She was swimming along beautifully when she realized she was surrounded by a dozen or more large catfish. Suddenly, one of them swam right up to her face. His long whiskers waved in the current as his big, bulging eyes stared into hers. The giant catfish and his friends swam away, and so did Rebecca - as rapidly as possible.
Rebecca has taken more than 300 hours of paramedic courses. She is a card-carrying diver, and after two more courses, she will officially be a rescue diver. In the meantime, she will go scuba diving with Mickey, 19, exploring shipwrecks at the Outer Banks.
As soon as she graduates from high school, Rebecca plans to join the Army like her brother and become a career rescue diver. But first she has to pass the rescue courses at the Chesapeake Bay Diving Center, a daunting task.
``I've had one junior rescue diver in the five years I've been instructing here,'' said Bill Grimsley, a master instructor at the Diving Center based in Portsmouth. ``He was a big 14-year-old boy. Physically and psychologically there is a big difference between recreational diving and rescue diving. You really have to be able to carry a load.''
Despite the difficulty, Grimsley is happy to train more junior rescue divers.
``It's easy to train young people because they have no fear,'' he said. ``They don't mind strapping on the gear and diving into a murky river.''
Rebecca first gained an interest in rescue work from her sister, Jacquelyne Hobbs Eason, 28, who is just a test away from being a paramedic herself. Eason served for seven years as a volunteer on the Camden-Pasquotank Rescue Squad.
Rebecca also has three half-brothers who are all either divers or work in rescue. Her great-grandfather helped form the original fire department of Greenville, N.C.
She has no hesitation about taking the rescue diving courses.
``I like rescue, and I like the water. I'm going to do it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by JEFFREY S. HAMPTON
Rebecca White, a Northeastern High School student, wants to become a
junior rescue diver and eventually a career diver in the Army. She
often trains at a private saltwater pool in Elizabeth City. by CNB