Keith Beasley of Renton started his sophomore year at Green River College on Monday knowing that he had made a difference this summer fighting fires in Eastern Washington.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old specialist in the Washington National Guard spent 25 days in August and September as a squad boss of 24 soldiers on the front lines of the Lake Chelan complex fire. Last summer, Beasley was in Eastern Washington for three weeks fighting the fires, which gave him the experience to be in a supervisory role this year. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI want to help people,\u201d Beasley said of his motivation to volunteer to fight the fires. \u201cThat was the main thing, just help people. I wanted to step up and do something big. I figured this is my opportunity.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Beasley shared his experience with about 200 incoming students at Green River\u2019s Welcome Day on Sept. 17 and then again at the college\u2019s Board of Trustees meeting later that day. After his introduction, board and meeting attendees gave Beasley a standing ovation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t expect that,\u201d Beasley said of the acknowledgment. \u201cI did not expect that at all. I thought I was just a guy just doing his job. I didn\u2019t know they saw it as someone being a hero.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Beasley joined the National Guard at his father\u2019s suggestion after he graduated from Hazen High School in Renton in 2013. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe (Beasley\u2019s father) said, \u2018It is a good benefit. Instead of going to school, why not serve at the same time and help people?\u2019\u201d Beasley recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n After attending bootcamp at Fort Benning, Ga., Beasley enrolled at Green River College, where he is now a two-sport athlete, competing in cross country and track. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThat wasn\u2019t the plan at first,\u201d Beasley said. \u201cWhen I was in basic training people noticed I can run.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Beasley, who ran track and cross country in high school, was encouraged to get a track scholarship and run at the college level. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI took their advice and decided to go to Green River, since it is the closest school that has a track program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Beasley missed the start of the cross country season while he was in Eastern Washington, but he said fighting the fires helped him stay in shape. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThey gave us heavy boots and packs to carry,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did a lot of walking. We had to walk in the sand and in the dirt at 3,500 feet. It keeps you in good shape.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Beasley said if given the opportunity, he would like to run track or cross country at a four-year school. He said he plans to graduate with an associate degree from Green River in the spring and would like to transfer to the University of Washington to study communications. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Beasley said he has enjoyed his time at Green River College, especially the chance to meet new people. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cIn order to change yourself, you have to change your surroundings and meet people you haven\u2019t met before,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Keith Beasley of Renton started his sophomore year at Green River College on Monday knowing that he had made a difference this summer fighting fires in Eastern Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":15330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15329"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}