One Chimacum student got a firsthand lesson on what it means to be a leader from a family member, thanks to a school initiative on leadership.

Chimacum School District Superintendent Rick Thompson told attendees at the board’s April 10 meeting that, over the winter, Chimacum Middle School had tasked students with going out into the community to ask its adults what being leaders meant to them.

Thompson’s hope was that those students would return to the school, able to emulate the examples of leadership they’d interacted with outside the school environment, “because we need more leadership, in our classrooms, in our hallways and in our surrounding community.”

Chimacum Middle School student Maggie Anderson rose to this challenge, in Thompson’s estimation, enough that he devoted a portion of the April 10 meeting to showing the brief video she’d taped of her interview with her uncle, Lt. Chris Kauzlarich of East Jefferson Fire Rescue.

Anderson explained that she and Kauzlarich did some practicing with her questions before filming, but she admitted with a laugh that she got around to filming “at the last minute.” As a result, Kauzlarich pointed out that he had “a little stutter” in some of his answers, when he was “caught off guard,” but his answers received a positive reception from the attendees of the board meeting.

Kauzlarich told Anderson he believes leadership means providing groups not only with direction toward goals, but also with the tools to successfully achieve those goals, as well as to advance up the ranks themselves.

Kauzlarich credited not only fire chiefs he’s worked under with serving as inspirational models of leadership, but also teachers he had at Bremerton High School, who helped him graduate.

More recently, Kauzlarich cited the leadership of East Jefferson Fire Rescue Chief Jim Walkowski as a key factor in making possible the annexation of the city of Port Townsend into Jefferson County Fire Protection District 1.

When Anderson asked Kauzlarich what he might go back and change about his own school experience, the firefighter laughed and said, “I’d do what my teachers told me,” by turning in his homework on time and engaging more with his classroom lessons.

To that end, Kauzlarich advised young people to make sure they complete their high school degrees, regardless of what post-graduate options they pursue.

“College is not for everyone,” Kauzlarich said. “Trade school is an option for many people. The point is, you need that foundation of high school.”

Kauzlarich also warned young people against “getting into trouble,” at the same time that he described it as part of a leader’s job to motivate those working for them by learning what those folks are looking to get out of life, then “creating opportunities” to achieve those personal goals.

When asked how he chose firefighting as a vocation, Kauzlarich recalled his mom’s time in the EMS field, as well as the mentorship he’d received from older firefighters.

“I liked seeing her with her patients,” Kauzlarich said. “And when I was taught what firefighting was all about, I fell in love.”

Kauzlarich noted the importance of family in other ways, such as how his friends and relatives supported him in training as a firefighter, even as he attempted to hold down another job.

“They kept me motivated and helped me become who I am today,” Kauzlarich said.

When asked who he admired who isn’t a leader, Kauzlarich named his father.

“He’s 78 years old and still works a full-time job,” Kauzlarich said. “He doesn’t show leadership, but he’s driven by a work ethic.”