Kyle Preissner is more like a campus hero than a campus celebrity. He is a volunteer fighter fighter in his home town of Kiel, Wisconsin. Kyle is currently a sophomore in the College of Engineering majoring in Construction Engineering and Management. As if this doesn’t sound difficult enough, he’s also an RA in O’Donnell and is currently attempting to organize other fire fighters and EMTs on campus. His important positions have taught him the importance of teamwork and trust, both on the job and in everyday life.
Kyle grew up in a small village called St. Ann. As he described it, his town only consisted of a church, restaurant, and fire department. The reassuring presence of firemen in the community sparked the interest of a young Preissner. This interest clearly never faded. Kyle said “The older I got the more I realized it wasn’t just getting to drive a big red truck with sirens, which is what first sparked my interest, but rather I was being able to help someone I didn’t even know and to try and make one of their worst days just a little bit better.”
Kyle is always waiting for a call. If he isn’t on duty making sure his freshmen residents are safe and happy, he’s on call at his fire station. A fire can break out at any time, which means Kyle must always be available when he is home. One his very first day of work, he answered a call at 5 A.M. Although it only turned out to be a farmer burning brush, this was a great introduction to the exhilaration but demanding life of a volunteer fire fighter. Kyle tells HCMU that “Firefighting and EMS isn’t for everyone, it’s something that you really have to be passionate about and want to be involved in.”
Caregiving is in his nature, as he said “When I’m back at Marquette and I hear about a medical incident on campus in the same area and location I am, I have a natural urge to want to help that person and provide medical care to the best of my abilities.” HCMU was introduced to Kyle when he reached out to fellow fire fighters and EMTs here on campus. He recently learned about a student-ran Emergency Medical Service group at Texas A&M University and believed that this type of service would be beneficial to Marquette’s community. A certified EMT has more specific medical training than DPS officers do, so student EMTs could provide a quicker, less expensive and more specialized care when there is a medical emergency on campus. He also believes this would help students studying medicine to gain relevant experiences. For those interested in Kyle’s prospective organization, there are many ways to get involved. He is currently working with the College of Nursing in an attempt to offer EMT training courses. If someone is interested in the club but doesn’t wish to become an EMT there are still many options. These include treasurer, secretary, website creation, and publicity. If you’re interested in helping Kyle and the Marquette community, he can be reached at his Marquette e-mail address.