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Kolodski scholarships awarded to graduates of National Park Service program

2015-12-12
Photo of Curtis Dowdle, James Owens, Isaac Galvez, Florie Takaki and Rachel Kolodski
James Owens (second from left) and Isaac Galvez (center) were awarded the first Joseph David Kolodski NPS Scholarship, which is awarded to students in Southwestern Community College’s National Park Service-Seasonal Law Enforcement Training program. Pictured with Owens and Galvez are, from left: Curtis Dowdle, dean of public safety training for SCC; Florie Takaki, widow of Joseph Kolodski; and Rachel Kolodski, Joseph & Florie’s daughter.

National Park Service Ranger Joseph Kolodski took his role seriously as a part-time Seasonal Law Enforcement Training (NPS-SLET) instructor for Southwestern Community College.

Though he was killed in the line of duty more than 17 years ago, Kolodski’s legacy will continue to live on at Southwestern Community College’s Public Safety Training Center (SCC-PSTC) with the establishment of a scholarship named in his honor.

The Joseph David Kolodski NPS Scholarship is awarded bi-annually to students in Southwestern’s NPS-SLET program.

“He had a strong desire to make sure what he taught was what the students would need to hear in their heads when they were in the field,” recalled Florie Takaki, Kolodski’s widow. “He worked to provide the best information possible so that those lessons might save the lives of park visitors or themselves.”

The first two $500 scholarships were given to Isaac Galvez of Akron, Ohio, and James Owens of Crouse (40 miles from Charlotte). They were among 20 graduates of the NPS-SLET program honored in a Dec. 4 ceremony at the SCC-PSTC in Franklin.

Funds for the scholarships are provided by the Highlands Sports Car Club out of Asheville.

Takaki and the couple’s eldest child, Rachel Kolodski, attended the NPS-SLET graduation ceremony at which the first Kolodski Scholarships were announced by Curtis Dowdle, dean of public safety training for SCC.

“When I first started here as an instructor, I learned a lot from Ranger Kolodski,” Dowdle said. “It is my hope and my belief that the gravity of this moment and the man these scholarships are named for will stay with these young men and that they’ll carry on his legacy of excellence when they are working in the field.”

Being at the PSTC reminded Takaki of her own experience of undergoing NPS training at Slippery Rock University (Pa.), which is where she met Kolodski.

“What happens in these training programs is important,” she said. “I was 23 at the time, and I’m 54 now, but I still remember my instructor’s words in my head.”

For more information about NPS-SLET training and other programs at Southwestern’s Public Safety Training Center, call 828.306.7041 or visit www.southwesterncc.edu/pstc.

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