Reid ’26 is gaining a deeper understanding of the emotional and life-saving impact of emergency response work, realizing that his drone project is more than a technical contribution—it’s a tool that could help reduce real human suffering.
Meeting with the leaders of my fire department, as well as firefighters from other departments has given me a better understanding of the work that fire departments actually do. At the junior firefighters’ trainings I am fairly disconnected from the emotion that goes along with a real response. However, my conversations with experienced firefighters have revealed the psychological aspect that goes along with rescuing people and land. For me this has increased the value that I put on the work that I am doing to set up my department with a new tool. I am not just putting a camera in the sky, I am potentially saving lives. At the first meeting with my chief, he recalled responses where a drone could have proven useful. When I went to learn from another department’s drone specialist, he shared stories of their drone finding lost people and monitoring disastrous scenes. These conversations painted a picture of what the final product of my project could be, helping empower me to do good work to get there. It is incredible to think that my work could reduce real human suffering.
