From left, Danielle Kuck ’27, Christopher Oko ’26, Kathryn Wrynn ’26, Olivia Jaye ’26, Matt Otto ’24, William Burson ’26 and Isabel Byrnes ’27 stand together smiling for a group photo in front of the William Cameron Engine Company with both bay doors open and a yellow fire truck and red and white EMT vehicles in the background

Called to Serv

Between Service and Student

While balancing classes, extracurricular activities and the many social opportunities that beckon college students on the weekends, a core group of students finds the time to volunteer at William Cameron Engine Company while pursuing EMT and firefighter certifications. From left, Danielle Kuck ’27, Christopher Oko ’26, Kathryn Wrynn ’26, Olivia Jaye ’26, Matt Otto ’24, William Burson ’26 and Isabel Byrnes ’27.

Called to Serv
Called to Serv

Bucknellians have always served their community in unique and necessary ways. Now, a group of students is bringing back a decades-old club that prepares the next generation of emergency service responders to provide critical support in communities at Bucknell, in Lewisburg and beyond.

by Matt Jones
photography by Emily Paine
B
y the time Kathryn Wrynn ’26 arrived on Bucknell’s campus as a first-year student, she was already a nationally certified emergency medical technician (EMT), and she was hungry for opportunities to put her skills to use while connecting with other community-service-minded students. There was just one problem. “I realized that there wasn’t a club for students who had a background in emergency medical care and wanted to make a difference in the community,” says Wrynn, a Montvale, N.J., native and a computer science & engineering major on a pre-health track.

The solution was simple: start a club of her own. Or, rather, revive a club that has, over the past four decades, and under the banner of different names — Volunteer Services, Bucknell Emergency Services Team, University Emergency Medical Services — been a hub for students who want to help people while preparing for careers in medicine. With the help of Olivia Jaye ’26, a cell biology/biochemistry major from Hopkinton, Mass., Wrynn relaunched a medical services club in 2022. Student Emergency Response Volunteers (SERV) is an education and community outreach organization that gives students hands-on training in EMS, fire and rescue by partnering with Lewisburg’s fire and EMS provider, the William Cameron Engine Company.

black and white photo of the Bucknell Emergency Services Team in 1993

Photo of Bucknell Emergency Services Team: Susan Naughton Chong ‘96, P’27

The Bucknell Emergency Services Team, here in 1993, was composed of student volunteeers who collaborated with the William Cameron Engine Company to serve as a campus resource group.

Danielle Kuck ’27 and Isabel Byrnes ’27 put on bunker gear in a fire station
Danielle Kuck ’27 stands at a yellow fire truck, handing an oxygen tank to Isabel Byrnes ’27 who leans out from inside the truck
Danielle Kuck ’27 and Isabel Byrnes ’27 stand beside a yellow fire truck, adjusting the straps of their oxygen masks while in full bunker gear

Stoking a Passion

Danielle Kuck ’27, international relations (far left), and Isabel Byrnes ’27, undeclared (left), first learned about SERV at Bucknell’s annual Activities Unlimited Fair that takes place during New Student Orientation. “I volunteered in my hometown on Long Island as a probationary firefighter,” says Byrnes, who wants to earn her Firefighter I certification, a Pennsylvania standard that meets the minimum requirements to function as part of a firefighting team. Kuck didn’t come from a firefighting background, but she was motivated by a passion to help her community. “At William Cameron, we’ve learned how to put on our protective equipment, use air packs and run hoses to and from the fire hydrants,” says Kuck.
students perform a spinal immobilization exercise in a fire station
students perform a log roll during a spinal immobilization exercise in a fire station
students secure the patient during a spinal immobilization exercise in a fire station

The Competencies of Care

EMT training means that SERV members must acquire specific, practical skills, such as CPR and spinal immobilization. Above, Matt Otto ’24, chemical engineering, Wrynn, Jaye, and Christopher Oko ’26, pre-health biology, demonstrate how to properly secure William Burson ’26, geography, on a backboard. An EMT needs to be able to assess a patient’s condition, administer basic first aid and triage patients, both at the scene of an incident and en route to a health care facility. “Your first call can be really scary, which is why there is a lengthy process between when you start and when you’re alone in the back of an ambulance,” Otto says.
with two holding the leg end and two holding the head end of the back board students perform the patient extrication process during a spinal immobilization exercise
three students sit close on a fire station floor, one sits to the side as the mock patient while the other two students perform a leg splint exercise
Kathryn Wrynn ’26, Olivia Jaye ’26, Matt Otto ’24, and William Burson ’26 perform an exercise while in the back of an EMS vehicle

Heeding the Call

Through interactions with a variety of patients, SERV members cultivate leadership skills, critical thinking and compassion that will benefit them in a variety of medical settings. “You learn how to talk to patients and comfort them,” says Oko. “These experiences are helpful whether you want to work as an EMT or go to medical school.” Looking forward, Wrynn and Jaye will seek to expand SERV membership and offer more training, education and outreach opportunities to students. In doing so, they hope to build back an organization that has served a critical function in creating a community of care at Bucknell and beyond.
two male students stand in the open back of an EMS vehicle parked in a fire station

Leading
the Way

These Bucknell alumni helped build SERV into what it is today and inspire the next generation of EMS practitioners

George Koenig ’96

“My participation in college EMS was formative for me in many different ways,” says Koenig, who now serves as the medical director of the Trauma Program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Along with being a medical practitioner, he is also the president of the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation, an organization that prompts and supports EMS programs on university campuses. “I think the greatest part of what EMS teaches you in college is the framework for how to solve a problem under pressure and work as a team that can effectively communicate. My time in SERV gave me all the tools and life lessons I needed to succeed in my career now.”

Jen Lyden ’09
“Being an EMT and firefighter was something that I had always valued and heard about growing up, but I had never gotten the opportunity to try it out or to network in that space until I joined SERV,” says Lyden, who now serves as the director for First Responder Outreach at Puppies Behind Bars, a New York-based organization that partners with incarcerated individuals to train service dogs for veterans first responders. “I always knew I wanted to do something that was community-oriented. What I do now closely parallels what I did in SERV. It’s a really good feeling to be able to help incarcerated volunteers who train our dogs and the public safety officers who work alongside them.”
Michael Stagnitto ’13

“SERV is actually one of the reasons I came to Bucknell,” says Stagnitto, who majored in education with concentrations in management and economics. “I already had an interest in being a career firefighter, but I also wanted to get a good education and some experience under my belt. I had an application into SERV before I even got to campus.” Now a master firefighter and paramedic with 10 years of experience on the job at Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, Stagnitto also uses his education degree to help train the next generation of first responders. “I teach EMS training for both volunteers and career professionals. My education background has definitely been useful because I have to have a teaching degree to be able to teach other firefighters.”

Barbara Black Leauber ’96 and Josh Leauber ’28
“SERV was actually called UEMS (University Emergency Medical Services) when I joined,” says Barbara Leauber ’96, a recipient of the 2011 Young Alumni Award who now works as a certified physician assistant for Geisinger. “At that time, the William Cameron Engine Company was 100% volunteer, so it was extremely valuable to have students running ambulance calls. We had a pager and what we called a ‘jump kit,’ and would respond to calls directly from campus.” For her, participating in SERV proved to be an impactful experience that endowed her with important skills, and inspired her son Josh Leauber ’28 to continue in the same line of work. “I grew up in the firehouse and I’ve always had it in my blood,” says Josh. For him, having the chance to work alongside SERV members as a high school student even helped to reveal a future path. “The friendships and relationships that I made with SERV students definitely made it an easy decision to attend Bucknell.”

A Flair for
Innovation

Bucknell students use their data expertise to assist volunteer firefighters

by Mike Ferlazzo
photograph by Emily Paine
I
n his 30 years of service, Brooks Stahlnecker, a firefighter and emergency medical technician from Milton, Pa., witnessed the dwindling of Pennsylvania’s volunteer firefighting force. Between 1970 and 2018, the state’s volunteer count fell from 370,000 to 38,000, as reported by the Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Institute.
Alec Sanders (left) and Donovan Coleman sit at a table, each with a laptop, in an instruction room

Alec Sanders ’25 (left) and Donovan Coleman ’26 created a database to facilitate real-time documentation and tracking of vital volunteer firefighter statistics.

Stahlnecker attributed the decline to a lack of incentives. To address this, he founded the Rapid Intervention Team First Responder Benefits program, a nonprofit designed to offer insurance benefits to retain and reward volunteer first responders. However, to effectively issue these benefits, he needed an up-to-date database of volunteer firefighters across the state.

That’s when he turned to the Bucknell Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and two of its student consultants. Within five months, Ian Proud, Bucknell’s SBDC engineering innovation manager, Alec Sanders ’25, a computer science major, and Donovan Coleman ’26, a computer science & engineering and management for engineers double-major, had a solution. They created an online tool that serves as a database for Stahlnecker, allowing for real-time documentation and tracking of volunteer firefighter statistics.

The database is collecting data from volunteer fire companies across five local counties — Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour and Columbia — and has been designed to be scalable and include data from beyond that five-county region.

“We finally have an accurate account of our first responders,” Stahlnecker says.

Sanders, who extended his SBDC student consultant work through summer 2024, reflected, “It’s been inspirational to work on a project that benefits the community.”