What is a day like for an Emergency Management Professional?

This is a loaded question, Zoe! There are seldom 2 days alike as an emergency manager. There are so many ways for emergency managers to work in the disaster sector that a day for some may be a 12 hour shift in an ops center 1000 miles from a disaster and a day spent taking 200 in-person registrations for individual assistance in a tent a couple of blocks away from the strike zone. The one constant truth is that there is that you will not get bored.

Your idea of joining FEMA Corps to get some boots-on-the-ground experience is a great way to start vetting your expectations. You might also look into NCCC, another AmeriCorps disaster program: https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-nccc Either will put you in the field to see how the framework and plans are executed in real time as well as the preparation going on in communities year round.

Since you are also studying public ministration, you might find volunteering with a Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster (VOAD) would be an invaluable glimpse behind the curtain of emergency operations. The American Red Cross ( http://www.redcross.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer#step1 ) is the easiest to access because they are in every community and consistently engaged in full disaster cycle engagement. Your state has a robust organanized VOAD presence: http://flvoad.communityos.org/cms/ . Take a look at what organizations are members and check into volunteer opportunities with them.