The City of St. Paul is welcoming its latest graduating class of first responders from the EMS Academy.

And in a historic first, the graduates are all Black women.

The St. Paul Fire Department’s EMS academy is an emergency medical technician training course, free of charge.

The program is aimed at helping low-income youth and people of color succeed.

Darshae Weaver never thought she’d be learning the ropes to save a life.

“We were under high pressure, just high stress. And it felt like everything was just moving so fast,” said Weaver, a graduate of EMS Academy.

Fast forward to 13 weeks later and Weaver became one of six Black women who walked across the stage after completing the course.

“That was just a big leap of faith for me and then to actually accomplish it and complete it. It was just like I never [knew] I [could] do something like this,” said Weaver.

Brittney Baker, one of the instructors at the academy, said, “I’m not [a] very emotional person, but it made me cry.”

Back in 2018, when Baker was hired as a St. Paul firefighter, she was the only Black woman; now there are four.

“That makes a huge difference. As well as it allows people to feel comfortable like talking to you about certain things,” Baker said.

She says community support backed the recent graduates to make sure they could reach their goals.

Tony Sanneh, head of the Sanneh Foundation, saw the EMS Academy needed help, so he stepped up.

“We’re really proud of these young women that are going to be protecting us for a very long time,” Sanneh said.

The foundation provided a training space at the Conway Community Center to keep the program open.

“That’s just a breath of fresh air as well. It’s astounding to know that they have our backs the way they do,” said Weaver.

Now Weaver has more opportunity to climb the ladder — and one day, she’s hoping to start an ambulance company of her own.

Applications for the St. Paul Fire EMS Academy are closed for the summer. However, leaders are planning to expand the program into St. Paul Public Schools to give students the opportunity to go through training in January 2024.