By Jed Nelson
Austin Daily Herald
GRAND MEADOW, Minn. 鈥� For some high school students, graduation can cause a number of thoughts and emotions to rise to the surface. They may experience a sense of uncertainty about what the future holds. With a plethora of careers to choose from, asking a high school graduate to pinpoint exactly what it is they want to do for a living can be daunting.
But for Dalton Pischke, Emily Kelzer, and Zac Gehling, that wasn鈥檛 the case. When they graduated this past year, their plans for after high school were clear: they wanted to give back to their community.
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"( Fire and Rescue members) are pumped to have young people on to train us and teach us different things,鈥� Pischke said. 鈥淢y family loves it and are excited I鈥檓 in it. They鈥檙e all in law enforcement and are proud that I鈥檓 giving back to the community.鈥�
Their inspiration for joining differs, but the one thing they agree on is feeling the need to give back to a community that has already done so much for them.
鈥淚 just wanted to find a way to help out my community a little bit,鈥� Kelzer said. 鈥淭his seemed like a good way to do that.鈥�
For Gehling, he didn鈥檛 have to look far for his inspiration.
鈥淔or me, it was because of my dad,鈥� he said.
Zac鈥檚 father, Joe Gehling, serves as fire chief for the Grand Meadow Fire Department.
"(Zac) grew up with it, so he always heard the pagers going off in the middle of night,鈥� Joe said. 鈥淚t never really phased him. I didn鈥檛 push him to join 鈥� I think he just got used to hanging out with the guys. We look at our emergency services as being a big family, so I think he got comfortable in this environment.鈥�
The three joined Grand Meadow鈥檚 Fire and Rescue team while they were finishing up their senior year of high school. Pischke and Gehling joined the fire department while Kelzer joined Grand Meadow EMT and ambulance service.
Juggling school, sports, and EMS work were things each had to overcome.
鈥淚 would get done with school, go to sports, and then come right to the EMS building on meeting and training nights,鈥� Gehling said. 鈥淚f there was a call during school, I鈥檇 have to talk to the office, then leave and come back.鈥�
Pischke stated that his experience was much like Gehling鈥檚, but that Kelzer experienced a greater deal of difficulty in her training.
鈥淭he EMT class is a pretty hard class to get through,鈥� she said. 鈥淭rying to juggle my last semester of high school and the class at the same time was a bit overwhelming at times, especially during finals week. But it all ended around the same time.鈥�
Joe Gehling hopes that the three can serve as an example to other young people in the area.
鈥淚n a way, we鈥檙e trying to make volunteering cool again,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ack when I first got on the fire department, we had six people waiting lists and now, today we have open spots. Ambulance and fire are kind of in the same boat. It feels like you have to get these younger people involved earlier otherwise life happens and they won鈥檛 be hooked. If they have an interest in helping people, then I feel like that hooks them and keeps them involved.鈥�
For Pischke, Gehling, and Kelzer, the past feeds into the future. They realize the work they will be doing is a step in the right direction in giving back to a community that has been there for them and helped them along in their own lives.
鈥淢y plan for the future is to stick around here so I can still be on and maybe climb the ladder at some point to teach someone else when they get on,鈥� Gehling said.
鈥淭he community has always gave everything to me and helped me out when I was younger,鈥� Pischke said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only fair that I help them out in return.鈥�
鈥� Grand Meadow is a very welcoming and helpful place, and I feel like I have been helped a lot by the community members,鈥� Kelzer said. 鈥淚 want to do my best to give back to that.鈥�
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