Senior Wilderness Medicine and Rescue and Outdoor Recreation Management major Peter Wallace found a new passion at Lees-McRae
In Fall 2023 the college added a new Wilderness Medicine and Rescue major within the May School of Natural and Health Sciences. Senior Peter Wallace was an Outdoor Recreation Management (ORM) major at the time, but with encouragement from Katie Wall—program coordinator for both programs—he decided to give wilderness medicine a try. If he didn’t care for the program, no harm, no foul.
“Here I am four years later graduating with it,” Wallace said. He will graduate in May as a double-major in ORM and Wilderness Medicine and Rescue with a minor in Ski Industry Business and Instruction. “There’s a lot of opportunity with it and a lot of different avenues you can go down like fire, rescue, medical, hazmat, search and rescue. The world is kind of your oyster.”
Wallace has already begun putting the skills he has learned in the classroom to the test through work with the Banner Elk Volunteer Fire Department and Beech Mountain Ski Patrol. He said the certifications and introductory classes he has completed as part of his majors, along with the emphasis on being a good community member and life-long learner, have given him the knowledge and perspective he needs to be successful in these roles.
Perhaps the most important lesson for Wallace, however, has been learning how to turn his recreational interest in the outdoor world into a professional pursuit.
As a freshman, Wallace said he did not know how to ski and had virtually no interest in the medical or rescue fields. He had worked at a summer camp near his hometown throughout most of high school and hoped to use his ORM degree to pursue a career working in summer camps.
“I’m almost an entirely different person with completely different interests. It’s kind of amazing how much things can change in less than four years,” Wallace said. “I feel like from day-one I’ve been getting really good resources and advice not just about how to be a good student, but how to succeed in your career as well. That seems to be the culture within ORM, is to really prepare you for after college. No matter what that looks like, the resources are there for you, you just have to take advantage of it.”
Following graduation Wallace plans to continue working for the fire department and begin stacking more advanced certifications. Next fall he plans to become certified as a fire investigator and hopes to do some wildland fire work over the summer. In the future he looks forward to becoming certified as a hazmat technician.
