Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Mekhi Barnett stretches after 1-mile run.
After wrapping up a mile’s worth of laps at Bowen Field, 22-year-old Southern Connecticut State University senior Mekhi Barnett was warmed up — and on track to pursue long-range goals off the field.
The triathlete was stretching his quads as part of a “recovery day” — following Monday’s leg day and Tuesday’s upper-body workout — when he took a moment to speak about his dream to become a financially literate firefighter. He told his story on the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH FM’s LoveBabz LoveTalk.
The word on the street, Barnett said, is: “Don’t rush greatness.”
Barnett learned that lesson back in high school — when he overcame rejection during high school baseball try-outs and switched to running track, ultimately becoming a state champion.
Now he hits the track to stay in shape while he focuses on nonathletic career pursuits.
When he’s not playing football, throwing a discus, sailing, stretching, swimming, or watching his girlfriend play softball, he’s completing his sociology degree, working as a volunteer firefighter, and pursuing his own self-education — by reading books like Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You How To Be Rich.
“A lot of people don’t know about financial literacy, especially people of color,” Barnett said. He also pointed out how people of color — as well as women — are systematically excluded from public safety careers.
He said he thinks he has a good chance of finding a full-time position fighting fires once he graduates next fall. “A lot of departments are hiring right now,” Barnett said — plus, towns like Hamden, for example, are launching efforts to make their largely white and male work forces more representative of the communities they serve.
Barnett said he hopes to work next year in Stamford, where he has lived with his family since third grade.
He’s thinking decades into the future. After retiring from the firefighting field, he intends to become a guidance counselor — to teach young people how to avoid debt by skipping college and going straight into trade jobs; working as electricians, plumbers or, of course, firefighters.
“I just wanna help kids that wanna get to that next level,” he concluded — and, he added, start a Roth IRA to help him purchase a boat.
Click on the video to watch the conversation with Mekhi Barnett on the "Word on the Street' segment of WNHH FM's "LoveBabz LoveTalk" program.