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Walking into the main building at Southern Guilford High School (Southern Guilford), you’ll see images of their mascot, the storm. It might not mean much to most visitors passing by, but in the wake of Hurricane Helene, the imagery holds a different weight. To one staff member, Briton Wertz, the storm means even more.
Wertz has spent her career as a firefighter and paramedic. Since 2022, she’s been an EMT and public safety teacher at Southern Guilford.
Wertz has seen her fair share of natural disasters throughout her time as a firefighter and paramedic, some of which amounted to life-altering personal loss. The passion she has for service coupled with her personal experience living through a natural disaster led Wertz to take action after seeing the devastation from Helene.
“I had to do something,” she said.
Wertz organized a donation drive for her class and encouraged them to bring in nonperishable food, cleaning supplies, and hygiene products. They set up collection boxes at Southern Guilford, and in mid-October, Wertz loaded them in her car and took them to western North Carolina.
“We ended up going to Brevard, dropped it off at a donation site, and helped them organize a little bit. While we were there, a family of six showed up, and I was able to literally put some of Southern’s donations into their hands and come back and show my kids and say, ‘Look, this is the family that took these things.’ It was really neat,” said Wertz.

Her students were impacted by the experience, from collecting donations to seeing how those donations helped fellow North Carolinians.
“It was really sad to see how much it affected people, because, you know, in Greensboro, we don’t get much,” said Jada Smith, a senior at Southern Guilford. “I’ve lived here my whole life, so I don’t think about how bad stuff is until you actually see it… you feel bad for the people and you’re like, ‘What can I do to help? Anything?’ Everything helps.”
The belief that everything helps is one that Wertz has worked to teach her students. It’s also a belief she came to learn through her personal experience of overcoming great loss.
Starting over
Wertz found her passion for firefighting and EMT work back when she was an undergraduate at Elon University. After a day of classes at Elon, she would drive to Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) for EMT classes at night. One of her peers mentioned that he joined the local fire department to get more experience. Wertz quickly followed suit and trained as a volunteer firefighter in Elon. What she didn’t know at the time was that what started out as a career passion would become lifesaving skills for her and her family.

In September 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina, bringing heavy rain compounded by how slow the storm moved. The rain caused catastrophic flooding, impacting towns from New Bern to Wilmington. Wertz was living on the coast at the time with her two kids, and their community was hit hard.
“We lost everything,” she said. “The only things I was able to save were their book bags, their blankets, because they were in elementary school, and their lunch boxes. Oh, and my son’s French horn.”
After Florence, Wertz retired from fire and EMS to focus on helping her family rebuild their lives. Eventually, they moved to the Piedmont region, and she found her way back to public service through teaching.
“I have a platform here to inspire these kids who are in public safety and EMT first responders to understand that there is no such thing as too small or not enough. You can make a difference,” said Wertz.
Following the signs

Wertz is a big believer in signs. Her time at Elon University had a positive impact on her and their mascot, the phoenix, is a symbol she’s carried with her throughout her life.
“The phoenix symbolizes my life journey,” she said. “It really does.”
In 2000, Elon University changed its mascot to the phoenix, a bird from Greek mythology symbolizing rebirth, to tell their story of renewal and hope after a fire destroyed much of the school in 1923. For Wertz, the phoenix represents her journey overcoming traumas and challenges, all of which have contributed to her following her passions.
When Wertz moved back to the area, she kept following signs. Seeing that Southern Guilford had the exact same colors as Elon University (maroon and gold) felt meaningful to her. Then, she learned that their mascot was the storm. It all felt right, and she knew she had to take the job.

Teaching students the nuts and bolts of emergency medical services is an important task, but Wertz finds that there are other lessons that come from a career in public service. She’s hoping students take those lessons with them, too.
“I’ve always been a person to stop and smell the roses because of what I see in fire and EMS. It’s like, I know that everything can change just that fast. But now it’s like, instead of stopping and smelling the roses, I might sit with them for a little bit. I might take some pictures. I might cut a couple and put them in a vase,” Wertz said. “I milk it even more than I used to.”