{"id":64825,"date":"2021-12-15T09:14:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T16:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=64825"},"modified":"2021-12-16T08:05:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T15:05:26","slug":"graduate-gabriel-breakstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/graduate-gabriel-breakstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Gabriel Breakstone: From FCB ambassador to Search and Rescue volunteer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Breakstone\u00a0<\/span><\/b>regularly<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>volunteers with the Coconino Sheriff\u2019s Search and Rescue Unit with a full day classes, homework and hours spent at his job in the W. A. Franke College of Business.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Breakstone, a senior graduating this weekend with a degree in hotel and restaurant management, has always felt a call to serve his community. He started volunteering with the with law enforcement when he was a freshman at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale and was involved with the local Jewish community in the valley. Breakstone also enjoyed traveling the world with his family, which prompted his interest in becoming an airline pilot.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the longest time, I always wondered and dreamed about law, law enforcement\u00a0and flying,\u201d Breakstone said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Breakstone chose to attend Northern Arizona University because he wanted to stay in\u00a0state\u00a0and attend a university that was part of a small, college\u00a0\u2013town.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon his arrival\u00a0to\u00a0NAU, he attended\u00a0freshman orientation\u00a0at the W.\u00a0A. Franke College of Business, where he met\u00a0<\/span>Bernadine Lewis<\/span><\/b>, program director in the college.\u00a0<\/span> \"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was immediately struck by his professionalism and maturity as an incoming freshman,\u201d she said\u00a0\u201cGabriel\u00a0was so impressive that I invited him to become an FCB Ambassador. He is the second student to be hired in their freshman year.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Breakstone accepted the position as\u00a0a\u00a0FCB\u00a0ambassador and has worked in the college in various positions throughout his college career.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had the opportunity to be able to engage with the high-level professionals and donors that\u00a0work with the\u00a0FCB, it was a\u00a0truly unique and frankly\u00a0unheard-of\u00a0experience\u00a0for a university student,\u201d Breakstone\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During Breakstone\u2019s freshman year at NAU, he met Sheriff\u00a0<\/span>Jim Driscoll<\/span><\/b>, who introduced him to the idea of volunteering with the\u00a0Coconino Sheriff\u2019s\u00a0Search and Rescue Unit.\u00a0Breakstone\u00a0\u00a0applied\u00a0after\u00a0their conversation\u00a0and\u00a0soon\u00a0\u00a0joined\u00a0the academy, where he trained to become a qualified and effective member of the\u00a0search and\u00a0rescue\u00a0team. After his graduation from the academy, Breakstone joined the team and regularly volunteers\u00a0his time and energy after long days\u00a0of\u00a0attending classes at NAU.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI have had the honor of working with people from 18 to 80 years of age. Our unit is made up of people from all backgrounds, retired and active, students, doctors, pilots and more,\u201d Breakstone said. \u201cMy time with the\u00a0search and\u00a0rescue\u00a0unit allowed me to partake in something larger than myself. When I assisted on a mission, we were often able to make someone\u2019s day just a little bit better, and that comes on a day which might be one of the worst days of that person\u2019s life.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Breakstone\u2019s time at NAU soon comes to a close, he prepares for his next adventure in public service. He plans to move back to Scottsdale after graduation to pursue\u00a0two paths that will define his\u00a0future:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>joining\u00a0the Phoenix Police Academy to become a sworn reserve police officer and\u00a0attending\u00a0flight school to further his aspirations of becoming a commercial airline pilot.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was younger, people around me would joke that I was\u00a015 going on 50. I was also precocious in this way, but I needed a place to further refine that\u00a0maturity. NAU gave me that place, allowing me to further develop my passion for business and hospitality as well as to learn and grow both personally and professionally.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Breakstone credits his\u00a0personal development\u00a0at NAU, allowing him to grow into the young professional that he is today, to the interpersonal relationships he had with his professors,\u00a0staff\u00a0and peers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNAU prepared me for my future by allowing me to work, live, laugh and explore life in ways that gave me confidence, conviction and perseverance that I can do anything I set my mind to moving forward,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said. \u201cWithout NAU, I would not be who I am today.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabriel Breakstone\u00a0regularly\u00a0volunteers with the Coconino Sheriff\u2019s Search and Rescue Unit with a full day classes, homework and hours spent at his job in the W. A. Franke College of Business.\u00a0 Breakstone, a senior graduating this weekend with a degree in hotel and restaurant management, has always felt a call to serve his community. He started…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":64839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}