For many high school seniors afflicted with “senioritis,” simply mustering the effort to show up to school during their final semester can be a challenge.

Coeur d’Alene High School’s Blake Dodson certainly qualifies as an exception to that unwritten rule.

“Some days I would perform three skits, then after the three skits I’d go do “The Little Mermaid” play [at CHS], so I’d be acting from 8 o’clock in the morning until 10:30 at night,” Dodson said.

Those three daily skits he referenced are fire safety performances at local elementary schools presented by the Kootenai County Fire Protection Co-op.

Dodson portrays “Brave Dave,” a firefighter who teaches kids fire safety tips, such as checking their smoke detectors, talking with parents about a fire escape plan, and sleeping with the bedroom door closed.

“We need to teach our kids younger about this stuff, because a lot of the fire safety I didn’t even know,” Dodson said. “It’s just really fun, it gets the kids involved, and if you get it to them when they’re younger it sticks with them a lot longer.’

The role of Brave Dave is usually reserved for Jim Lyon, spokesman for the Northern Lakes Fire District, but Lyon was sidelined this year after hip surgery.

That void led the co-op to reach out to the CHS theater department in search of a replacement, and Dodson gladly came aboard.

“My drama teacher, Jared Helm, asked me if I wanted a job, and any acting job is a fun acting job,” Dodson said.

In addition to his three classes and many hours dedicated to the recent production of “The Little Mermaid,” Dodson has traversed the county over the past two weeks, performing the skit at nearly 30 elementary schools. On Thursday, he visited first graders at Winton Elementary in Coeur d’Alene.

While this role may be casual, Dodson has designs on a professional acting career.

This fall, he will attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in West Hollywood, a performing arts conservatory whose notable alumni include Danny Devito, Robert Redford and Paul Rudd.

“I just got lucky enough to be a small kid from Idaho who got into it,” Dodson said. “I’m really excited to attend there this August.”

Dodson knows the move will bring many changes, but he said he’s prepared for whatever comes his way.

“It’s going to be a lot of new changes, but I’m excited to go in there with the people I’ve got behind my back from here encouraging me,” he said.

During his time at CHS, Dodson won four state titles in competitive drama, one of a select few to accomplish that.

However, he said he fell in love with acting long before his adolescence.

“It was definitely when I was watching movies as a kid,” Dodson said. “One of the big ones was Jack Sparrow in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ I told my parents ‘I want to be a pirate,’ and they said ‘Yeah, you could dress up like a pirate,’ and I said ‘No, I want to be one.’”

He credited his parents and Jared Helm of the CHS theater department for supporting him and helping his development as an actor.

Moving forward, as he makes the leap from North Idaho to Hollywood, Dodson said he hopes to use his platform as a performer to affect positive change.

“Movies are such a big part of our culture and society,” Dodson said. “Especially now, I just want to get in there and make a positive impact.”