Women’s History Month spotlight – Jennifer Thackston

March 29, 2023

It’s easy to default to ‘firefighter’ when thinking about occupations and opportunities in the fire service. Clemson University Fire & EMS Sergeant Jennifer Thackston proves there’s more than one way to contribute to a department and community.

“There’s so many pieces that support firefighting and there is a place for everyone,” Jennifer said.

Growing up, Jennifer wanted to be a teacher. A native of Conway and graduate of Carolina Forest High School, she was active in the National FFA Organization that prepares students for careers in the science, business, and technology of agriculture.

She was a freshman at Clemson in 2004 and started dating her husband, Jim, a year later, who was volunteering at a nearby department. Jennifer had no prior interaction or experience with emergency services, but it piqued her curiosity, and she enrolled in 1152.

Soon after, she befriended a fellow Clemson student from up north who explained to her how fire departments in their area were also involved in rescue and EMS. She got in touch with the local rescue squad who suggested EMT school.

Jennifer and Jim attended night school after class at Clemson to obtain their EMT. While she loved her EMT class in the evenings, her student teaching experience was not living up to her childhood dreams; all the while, she was doing a work-study with Clemson Fire assisting the admin assistant, getting more and more familiar with the fire service. She decided to put her teaching dreams aside and take advantage of her EMT after graduating in 2007.

AEMT followed her EMT certification, followed by paramedic, followed by an EMT teaching gig. All told, Jennifer has 10 years of experience as a medic, and has Firefighter I, Firefighter II, and Fire Officer III under her belt.

She stayed in the area and joined Clemson part-time in 2011. In 2016, Clemson Student Government funded installation of trauma kits across campus. Collaborating with law enforcement, Jennifer oversaw the project and helped other departments with the AED procurement process. Her ambiguous position transformed into  program coordinator, handling the likes of patient care and data analytics because of her EMT background.

When Chief Rick Cramer came to the department in 2021, he officially moved her to a Community Risk Reduction role and recently tagged her to lead the charge in the accreditation process.

“I would’ve never thought in a million years that I would want to go from being a schoolteacher to being in the fire service, let alone being an officer in the fire service because those pathways of data analytics and strategic planning and those types of pieces, those weren’t visible,” Jennifer said, “I didn’t know they existed so I never could’ve imagined myself being there.”

Jennifer sits on the Association’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and is happy to contribute to moving the fire service forward.

“I was proud and surprised because at that point I had not really made a name for myself in the fire service,” she said when she recalled how she felt when she was asked to serve on the committee.

“My hopes are that we continue down this path of being more inclusive and finding ways to encourage people to grow beyond where they think they can.”