When deciding what EMT school to attend, I chose the one that had a class schedule coming up that best fit my schedule. I wasn’t worried about style or approach of the school, I was ready to attend class, study, take the exams all in preparation for the NREMT. I quickly realized the Utah Paramedic and EMT Academy is not a “school” rather it is what it says it is, an “Academy”. The Academy director is Andrew Nichols whose passion about quality prehospital care is contagious. Nichols has assembled a team of instructors and support staff that has created an Academy that is something akin to what I envision Plato’s garden to be like, where philosophy, knowledge, instruction, and training are always being disseminated to students ready to learn. On any given day, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. there is ongoing instruction, study session, tutoring, training, workshop etc. in progress. In the classroom, students are taught by experienced, seasoned instructors that are constantly providing real life experiences that help us understand the application of the concepts being taught out of the book. The instructors all share Nichols’s passion that students be taught concepts beyond what is in the book (physiology), namely that we are taught to understand the pathophysiology of what is occurring to our patients. While in class, we are constantly in motion, lecture, demonstrations, hands on training etc. (never a dull moment). So be warned, this is an Academy with high expectations, not a school that teaches to the test. This makes for an Academy of instructors and students who are committed to improving the quality of prehospital care for the sick and injured in our communities.Michael Clara