Mencor Valdez and Mike Valdez
Mike Valdez, son of Mencor and Janet Valdez and the late Jean Valdez, recently graduated from San Juan College paramedic school.
Mike Valdez graduated from Pagosa Springs High School in 1994, attending Johnson and Wales University Culinary for two years in Providence, R.I., on a scholarship. After working in the restaurant business for a number of years in New England, he came home to Pagosa Springs.
Going from the frying pan into the fire, Mike Valdez began working for the fire district as a firefighter, then an EMT. He went on to be an EMTI, going to work for Los Pinos Fire Protection District in Ignacio.
With the support of his large family, employer and fellow team members, he began the journey of becoming a paramedic. Long hours of driving many miles to and from San Juan College, working shifts and clinicals, and intense studying for 367 days culminated Friday, Aug. 21, with his graduation. Mike Valdez was one-half point from being valedictorian.
Mike Valdez’s father, Archuleta County native and Vietnam veteran J Mencor Valdez, became an EMT in 1978. He was in the second Archuleta County class of graduates.
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