A celebration was held inside the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium on Wednesday for a special graduation.

"Excited," Graduate Phil Walker said. "I'm excited to start a new journey."

Phil Walker is one of the 30 people who have just completed an eight-week course at the Future Fire Academy, now fully ready to start their careers in the fire service.

"We just focus on giving opportunities to folks that don't always have opportunities to be able to get in the firefighting," said Chief Anthony Pedro, founder and CEO of the Future Fire Academy.

From former inmates to veterans to people in underserved communities, Future Fire Academy said it supports all. Not only do they provide the support, but the students themselves support and learn from one another.

"I sit back and watch them push each other for the better and help each other," Pedro said. "It's just so refreshing because sometimes, we kind of get the stigma with folks with a background."

He knows this struggle firsthand.

"I did nine years in prison myself before I was a firefighter, and that changed my life," Pedro continued. "I struggled when I first came home. I see a lot of myself and our students that come in the program. It's refreshing to see even the folks without backgrounds to be accepting to the ones with backgrounds."

The academy is free and provides students with a stipend after graduating to give them more incentive.

"It's also changing lives because these folks have families and kids are seeing them," Pedro explained. "Like Phil Walker, it's like now he can provide a good life for his family. So it's paying it forward."

As for what's next for recent graduate Walker, he said he's aiming to find a job in firefighting.

"How to get into a fire station, or even out there in the field," he said. "I don't care where I go. I'm just ready to fight some fire."

The graduates are now certified to fight wildland fires either through some of their sponsors, like Cal Fire or other organizations like the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management.

The next academy will be held in Sacramento.