(Pictured L-R: Kelsey D’Amico, Trevor Hines, Samantha Mohammed, Michael Callis and Justin Popp)

Haddam-Killingworth High School seniors Kelsey D’Amico, Justin Popp, Trevor Hines, Samantha Mohammed and Michael Callis are this year’s recipients of the Killingworth Ambulance Association scholarships.

The five were named at the school’s annual senior awards night on Tuesday, June 12.

To be eligible for the KAA’s annual grants, graduating seniors must reside in Killingworth and have been accepted at a continuing education institution of two or four years. In addition, they must intend to major in the medical, emergency services (e.g., police or fire) or allied fields, have performed substantial community service and maintained GPAs of 3.0 or better.

These five did:

KELSEY D’AMICO — The school’s valedictorian with a GPA of 4.34, Kelsey was a track and cross-country standout who performed 219 hours of community service and will pursue a career in veterinary medicine at Purdue University.

JUSTIN POPP — A member of the football, baseball and wrestling teams, Justin plans to pursue a pre-med major at LIU Post, where he will focus on biology. Justin, who performed 215 hours of community service, hopes to one day become a doctor.

TREVOR HINES — Captain of the football and wrestling teams, Trevor will stay in the area — planning to study criminal justice at the University of New Haven. He hopes to pursue a career in law enforcement.

SAMANTHA MOHAMMED — Samantha was the volleyball team captain and is another student who intends to pursue a major in biology in college. She will do it at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H.

MICHAEL CALLIS — Michael is an Eagle Scout and another track standout, achieving all-state honors indoors and all-Shoreline outdoors. is headed to the College of New Jersey, where he will study for a degree in nursing. Michael logged 296 hours of community service.

The Killingworth Ambulance Association congratulates this year’s scholarship recipients and wishes them the best in their collegiate careers and beyond.

It’s a class advertised as “the New Face of De-Escalation,” but it was at a familiar stop on the evening of June 6 — the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company. For the second time in two years, former Lt. Ray Hassett (ret.) of the New Haven Police Dept. brought his three-hour course to first-responders in Killingworth.

With members of  the Killingworth Ambulance Association and Killingworth Fire Co. in attendance, Hassett preached the importance of patience, discourse, listening and, ultimately, understanding in responding to persons in crisis situations — an area of expertise for the former policeman.

Hassett teaches the art of hostage negotiations overseas for the U.S. State Dept.

“Where this training helps you to evolve,” he told listeners, “is to step back and say, ‘What am I looking at here?’ When you have that beginning connection, everything changes.”

Hassett had the same message when he appeared in front of Killingworth first-responders in early 2016, and it was so effective then that he was asked to return. With the help of the Killingworth Lions Club, the Ladies Auxiliary, the KWO and the Chamber of Commerce — each of which contributed $200 — Hassett was able to do that.

“I was a lot of different things to a lot of different people,” he said when talking about handling crisis communications, “and I learned more about them than anything else. You don’t talk as much, but you can be effective.”

The class originally was scheduled for mid-March but was postponed due to severe weather.