James McManus has tried to live his core values of teamwork and growth throughout everything he’s done in life. He joined the Mendham First Aid Squad in 2011 at the age of 16 because he was aging out of Boy Scouts (where he later became an Eagle Scout) and wanted to continue to volunteer in his community. He became an EMT later that same year! He also joined the Mendham Township First Aid Squad around the same time, and is still a special member of both. He has served as the Youth Director and as an instructor for the Mendham First Aid Squad. In 2018 he became a Life Member of the Mendham First Aid Squad, received the Captain’s Award in 2021, and in 2024 he was elected to the Board of Trustees. James regularly presents at the National Conference on EMS on a variety of topics, from pediatric EMS to Leadership.

After graduating from West Morris Mendham High School, James attended The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Throughout his four years, he served as the Regimental Public Affairs NCO, Commander of the USCG Auxiliary unit, and Co-Commander of the Cadet Chorale, and was also elected Governor of the South Carolina Student Legislature in 2015. In his senior year, James was the Regimental Academic Officer, responsible for overseeing a staff of 26 of his peers to ensure the academic wellbeing of all 2300 cadets on campus.

After graduating from The Citadel with a Bachelors of Science degree in Social Studies Education, James completed a Fulbright fellowship in Norway through the U.S. State Department. Upon returning to the United States, he began teaching social studies at Montville Township High School where he was known for his creative, hands-on teaching approach that immersed students in the material (ex. a life-size D-Day simulation). He utilized virtual reality, created escape rooms (ex. Revolutionary War spies and World War I), developed economic and political role playing games, and built tabletop simulations to teach students about aspects of  American and European history (ex. a revolutionary war battle simulation). Now James is a Learning Coach at Prisma, a cutting-edge virtual middle and high school whose innovative curriculum and individualized mentorship coaching is preparing students to succeed and thrive in adulthood.

Since becoming an EMT, James has worked at countless soccer, wrestling, and hockey tournaments as a medical provider, and as the Medical Director at multiple overnight and day camps (like Mendham Day Camp where he also served as Assistant Director). He also volunteers as a Senior City Counselor and a member of the EMS team at the leadership through civics program American Legion Jersey Boys State, where his “cities” regularly receive Best County and Best City awards (2018, 2022, 2023). James also regularly volunteers as a Boy Scout Merit Badge Counselor for a variety of merit badges. During the pandemic in the summer of 2020, James served as the first director of (and led the team to create) Camp BuddEConnect, a virtual summer camp for kids with special needs.

In 2021, James became a Red Cross Lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor in his capacity as Aquatics Director at Harbor Hills Day Camp. There he oversees a team of lifeguards and swim instructors as they provide swim instruction and aquatics programs to all 600+ campers twice a day. He also developed their extremely popular junior lifeguarding elective that teaches campers as young as 9 the skills of lifeguarding. In 2022, James became an American Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED instructor with Ay to Zee, and is also an instructor for Basic Life Support (BLS), CPR for Professional Rescuers (CPRO), Babysitting, Wilderness First Aid, Emergency Medical Responder (EMR), and Junior Lifeguarding courses, among many others. In 2023 he was selected to attend and graduated from the American Red Cross Instructor Trainer Academy, and now regularly teaches various instructor courses.