To recognize Coronado’s police officers, firefighters, lifeguards and city employees for their hard work, the Coronado Chamber of Commerce puts on an annual event called Celebrate Coronado.
The night — complete with dinner and an awards ceremony — honored police officer Grace Del Bagno as employee of the year; Nate Smith as the lifeguard of the year; Brenden Green as the fire department’s employee of the year; and Maria Gonzalez, Chris Bellini, Jose Sandoval, Terry Carr, Tazz Phillips and Dwayne Jusino as the police department’s employees of the year.
Grace Del Bagno
Del Bagno has been at the Coronado Police Department pretty much ever since she graduated from the police academy in Los Angeles. She spent 10 months at the Redondo Beach Police Department before taking a break to travel, and then found her way to Coronado where she’s been for the last eight years.
She’s 33 now, and she said she’s wanted to work in law enforcement since she was a child.
“I had uncles that I grew up with, like, close family friends and uncles who were in law enforcement, and I just loved their stories,” Del Bagno said. “And I’ve always been pretty extroverted and [had] a stronger personality which is kind of required for the job.”
Now that she’s been a police officer for just about a decade, she knows she’s passionate about her job and her community. Del Bagno laughs as she says that selfishly, she needs to be doing something she’s eager about. If she’s bored, it’s not good for her mental health.
Del Bagno says going to work and going to their calls and patrolling everyday, just meeting the requirements is not all there is to it.
Find something at work to be passionate about.Police officer Grace Del Bagno
“Find something at work to be passionate about,” she said.
And Del Bagno found that passion in teaching the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program to children. This program is a gang and violence prevention program meant to be taught by a law-enforcement officer in a classroom setting, according to their website.
“I love teaching and training people, and then coincidentally, a school resource officer position opened up where I get to teach in a classroom with kids,” Del Bagno said. “So, I get to be a police officer and teach? That’s two things I’m passionate about. Let’s do that.”
Del Bagno ended up rewriting and reworking the GREAT curriculum that is now being taught in Coronado schools as she felt it was an older program and also didn’t really speak to the Coronado students who have different opportunities and experiences living on the island, as opposed to on the other side of the bridge.
She also has sung the national anthem a few times in Coronado, which has led to her singing at Petco Park and at several law enforcement events.
“What I love about law enforcement is that every day is a new day. I’m the kind of person who must have ADD, obviously, where I just need to constantly be doing something different,” Del Bagno said laughing.
Nate Smith
Smith is 24 and at his young age, has been selected as lifeguard of the year.
He’s been a lifeguard for over a decade, starting as a junior lifeguard at 13-years-old, and six years later in 2019, he started working as a lifeguard in Coronado.
Smith grew up playing water polo, swimming, surfing and has always been familiar with the water, so when it came time to find a summer job in college, this made the most sense to him.
“We had heard great things about the (Coronado lifeguard) program, and my parents wanted somewhere to put me and get me out of the way for a few hours everyday during the summer,” Smith said lightly.
Working with the team, educating the public and helping the public on a daily basis is what drives Smith, he said.
“It’s fun to be a part of, and I think getting to help people every day is a great drive for me,” Smith said.
He said that all the lifeguards that have gotten the award before him were great people, so to have his name in consideration, and to win lifeguard of the year was a huge honor.
Any of the people that I work with could have been up for the same award. Day in and day out, everyone does amazing work.
Lifeguard Nate Smith
“Any of the people that I work with could have been up for the same award. Day in and day out, everyone does amazing work,” Smith said.
He said he’s just happy to be a part of the team and a part of the work they do.
“It’s the best job you can ask for, at the end of the day. You’re at the beach for the entire day,” Smith said. “If it’s a good day, it’s a good day. If it’s a bad day, it’s really not that bad because you’re still at the beach.”
Brenden Green
Green, Coronado Fire Department’s employee of the year, has been in an ambulance for almost a decade, starting at 18-years-old.
He completed his EMT training during his freshman year of college at Cal Poly Humboldt and finished his college career achieving his paramedic license in his last semester.
Green entered school with the intention of going to medical school after getting his degree in wildlife conservation biology and applied vertebrate ecology. But his interest and passion as a paramedic was growing larger and larger and he decided to pursue a career in becoming a firefighter paramedic.
“My heart is definitely with the fire service,” Green said, already having spent more than three years at the Coronado Fire Department.
And Green attributes his work ethic to the people he works with everyday on the island.
“It’s a very motivating place to work,” Green said. “I look at every coworker and think they definitely deserve [the award].”
Green is a big advocate for mental health, especially as a firefighter paramedic. At Celebrate Coronado’s award dinner on Oct. 2, Fire Chief Jayson Summers spoke about how a typical person may witness a life altering traumatic event once or twice in their life, but police officers and firefighters will experience them over 100 times and some of them will eventually suffer from PTSD.
But Green has stepped in and prioritized the importance of mental health at the fire department.
Don’t bottle that stuff up, don’t just shove it aside. Handle it, process it, that way you can be the best that you can be.
Firefighter paramedic Brenden Green
“Don’t bottle that stuff up, don’t just shove it aside,” Green said. “Handle it, process it, that way you can be the best that you can be.”
