By Breanna Hoffner

KEVIN Krippa ‘23 is a cybersecurity management major with a minor in criminal justice.

He has been heavily involved with the Boy Scouts of America since 2010 when he started as a Cub Scout. Krippa now serves as an assistant scoutmaster and merit badge counselor; he covers a number of badges based on his skills and interests that include first aid, crime prevention, camping and American history.

Knowing that Boy Scouts in his area have an extensive history of becoming EMTs and heeding advice from a high school friend, Krippa decided to become EMT certified as well.

“The pandemic put a delay on it but I’m now certified in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.” he says.

Throughout Krippa’s time in both serving as a Boy Scout and an EMT, he has learned several life-saving skills, from how to control bleeding to splinting a fractured limb to CPR, and a lot more. 

Utilizing the skills he has learned throughout Boy Scouts and serving as an EMT, he was able to save a life in Johnson Dining Hall earlier this semester. He recounts the incident as follows: 

“I was eating in the dining hall when a friend at another table called out my name. I turned over. One of her friends was visibly struggling to breathe,” he says. “Their face was white and they were making hardly any noise, and their hands were wrapped around their throat. Myself and someone else sitting at the table helped the student using abdominal thrusts and were able to get them breathing.” 

Although he covered choking emergencies in EMT school, Krippa says Boy Scouts is where he first learned to help someone who is choking.

He also emphasizes that one does not need a certification or card to know how to help in an emergency, “The first person to help this student was another one of their friends. If neither of us were there the situation could have ended very differently,”.  he says.

Mitchell Wright, treasurer for the YCP Scout Club, says he wasn’t surprised that Krippa was able to use his skills in Johnson Dining Hall that day. “I serve with him on the executive board for the YCP Scout Club, and he’s proven his skills and passion to me,” Wright says.

In addition to serving as an assistant scoutmaster and EMT, Krippa works with York College EMS, is the president of YCP Scout Club, is a member of the Club Ultimate Frisbee team, a member of the Order of the Sword & Shield National Honor Society and the Graham School of Business’ Dean Advisory Board, and is newly elected to the Student Senate for next year.

Breanna Hoffner is a senior majoring in marketing and minoring in professional writing, hospitality marketing and creative writing.

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