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Writer Rebecca Svec
Photos Ben Meyer

The Crete Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD) to ˮ���� pipeline is a steady source of support for CVFD, and experience and community for alumni, faculty and students. 

This year (2024) about a quarter of the 34 members on the CVFD roster are ˮ���� students, in addition to several ˮ���� alums. Over the years, students have gained valuable education that has set them on the path toward medical and firefighting careers, including paramedics, nurses, a Doctor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and a Physician Assistant. Read more about two students and an alum who volunteer with CVFD.

Abbie Willett, class of 2026

Biology major with a health sciences emphasis, and a minor in chemistry

A traumatic event from Willett’s childhood on a farm near Shelby, Iowa, helped shape her passion for emergency service. She was a young girl when a snowplow hit black ice on their country road and flipped into a creek in the middle of a blizzard. The snowplow sheared a light pole in the process, leaving live electrical wires on the blacktop road. Willett called 911 while her father blocked traffic from the scene.

“I think what got me started (volunteering) was seeing the men and women of the fire departments in action,” she said. Local EMTs helped the trapped operator. Electricians arrived to help clear the lines and sheriff deputies controlled traffic - all within minutes. 

“It inspired me to help people how I can.” 

She also grew up in a service and community-minded family. Her mom, Kami Willett, volunteered for the local fire and rescue department and served as a medic in the U.S. Air Force, completing humanitarian deployments after active duty. Willett also grew up watching her father, Dean, help people and causes in the community. 

During Abbie’s first-year student/community walk in Crete she met a few members of the Crete Volunteer Fire Department. Despite her academic and athletic load as a ˮ���� softball player, she submitted her application the next week.

“Now I get the opportunity to help Crete and the surrounding communities with fire and EMS situations. I think every opportunity I have gotten has taught me a little something, but there is a sense of pride that I really feel when I can take someone's horrible day and create a little peace of mind.”

Joining the department has given her friends she expects to keep in her life for a long time, and helped her establish “even more of a home away from home."|

Willett plans a career as a pathologist assistant. 

Courtney Marcelino ’19

Marcelino had strong family ties to the Crete Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD), but her own path to join came by chance.

Courtney lived with her grandparents, Ron and Marge Marcelino, in Crete as she earned her degrees in Biology and Spanish. One winter evening, Ron turned to Courtney and asked if she would accompany him to CVFD’s annual dinner/dance.

Retired after decades volunteering with the department, Ron looked forward to the event, and trading memories with familiar faces. Normally Marge would be his date, but she wasn’t feeling well.   

Courtney agreed to go. When she walked into the station, the first thing she noticed were fellow ˮ���� classmates. “I didn’t know college kids could join,” she said to them. 

Soon, Courtney was a member herself, making her (late) grandfather pretty proud.

In the years since that night, she has gone from a rookie college member to CVFD treasurer and an almost 8-year member of the squad. She’s also a paramedic, serving the Crete Area Medical Center, CHI Health St. Elizabeth’s and Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, and soon, will earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

The fire department was her catalyst, changing the trajectory of her future. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with a biology degree, but I came to love the emergency side of (fire and rescue) so much.”

Looking back, she can see the shift in perspective, maturity and accountability that came with her new volunteer role, as sure as the pager on her hip, and the bonds she has made within the department. 

“It’s more like a family. We would literally run into fires to save each other… It really created a family I didn’t know I needed.”

They share laughter and camaraderie on the light days and low-stress calls. They share the burdens that come with the heavy days, like the calls that end up as a code. “It was hard, but what I learned is that - whoever is on the call - you go through it together. You can talk to each other about what happened…You know you are not alone.”

Her CVFD pager stays on her hip a little less now, as she works to complete nursing school and keep up with her paramedic role.

The department is good about that, too, she said. Sometimes one is heavily involved; other times life calls for you to take a step back.

“But there’s always a place for you.”

Kaidan Smith, class of 2025 

Theatre major

Smith, a Crete native, grew up caring about his hometown and giving back. His family and school placed a high priority on “The Golden Rule” of treating others as you want to be treated. 

“As I grew up that translated into trying to live my life in such a way that I can try and make the world a little bit less awful everywhere I can, because I know I’d want others doing that for me.”

On campus, he’s involved in theater groups and Alpha Pi Epsilon. In Crete, he volunteers with CVFD as well as a Backpack Program and the Blue River Arts Council.

The experiences with the fire and rescue department matured him, connected him to more of the community, and gave him a confidence he didn’t know he was lacking, he said. 

“When you’ve stared down wildfires and fatal car crashes…it’s kind of hard for a test or a job interview to shake you after things like that.”

Sometimes, the tough calls stick with you, he said. “You end up frequently seeing a side to your community and humanity overall that I don’t think the average person will see more than a handful of times in their life.”

On the flip side, the best of the calls stick with him, too. “There’s little better than pulling back into the station feeling like you made a genuine, positive impact in somebody’s life.”

He plans to continue his fire and rescue service through college and beyond, and pursue a career in tech theater and film.