Nicholas Squillace

Background

About Nicholas Squillace

I am a current University of Tampa student with aspirations of pursuing a career in Firefighting or Law Enforcement following my graduation in May 2025. My motivation for this career sprouted from growing up in a Fire Department family, where I was introduced at a very young age to the world of first responders. This experience has given me the utmost respect for first responders. Once of age, I became a volunteer firefighter in Wyckoff, NJ, which only strengthened my passion for the first responder world. I am a ProBoard and IFSAC certified firefighter through the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute with the Firefighter One certification as well as several other Hazmat certifications. Learning about various aspects of the Criminal Justice world through my time at UT has helped me to understand and appreciate everything that CJ workers do, which motivated me to pursue a career in this field. Along with my undergraduate experience, I have had the opportunity to intern with The Tarpon Springs Police Department from the Summer of 2024 into the fall semester of my senior year at UT. This experience allowed me to view the day-to-day life of police officers, as well as gain insight into specialty departments such as the detective's office and the property/evidence office. My work experience has helped me to understand people better, strengthening my communication skills and hardworking mindset. I have worked in a variety of fields of work which has helped to better my real-world experience. Some of this work included customer service in the food industry, maintenance of facilities on large-scale properties, fire inspection work throughout businesses in the NY/NJ/PA area, dock work and maintenance on small craft water vessels, and marketing on college campuses. Each of these experiences has taught me various skills specific to each field of work, as well as generalizable skills that I can use as a student and in future work.