Brian Katcher

2022 Senior Series: Brian Katcher

Brian Katcher shares insight from his time at UMass Amherst
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Brian Katcher
Brian Katcher

“I actually found my interest in emergency medicine accidentally. When I was 15 years old, someone who I knew from a Boy Scout camp saw me at a local street fair and said, ‘Hey, when are you going to come down to the ambulance corps and take this class?’ I said, ‘What class are you talking about?’ And she said, ‘The one you’re taking.’  

I started college back in 1991 after I graduated from high school. I was in school for four years, but did not finish. After that, I spent a year in paramedic school in New York City. I have spent basically my entire life working in EMS as a paramedic. I worked in NYC for several years before moving out to Boise, Idaho, where I got a job working as a flight paramedic on a helicopter. I moved into the management side of it as well.

In 2012, I moved back east to northern Virginia to fly here and manage an aeromedical base. A couple years back, I ended up sustaining an injury on the job, which took me out of the ability to keep doing what I was doing physically. Eventually I was put on a full medical leave. I took that opportunity to finally go back to school and finish what I'd started 30 years earlier. 

It was an experience to go back to college, and to do it with people who all had various degrees of life experience above and beyond just scholastic and intramural — the things that you don’t get until you’re out doing more ‘real world’ experiences.

Brian Katcher

When I started college the first time, I went to a big state school in New York. My freshman chemistry lecture was me and 1,100 of my closest friends. I remember there being one guy who would walk in to lecture with a full head of gray hair and we would all look, going, ‘Who’s this old guy?’ He was probably 30. Then I thought, ‘Wow, someone is coming back and going to school.’  

Going through UWW was kind of like all of us being that guy. There were people that were in their late 20s or early 30s up through people who were in their 60s and 70s. It was an experience to go back to college, and to do it with people who all had various degrees of life experience above and beyond just scholastic and intramural — the things that you don’t get until you’re out doing more ‘real world’ experiences. The discussions that were had in class or through Blackboard were richer than I remembered the first time. 

Being able to take my lifetime of experience and the guidance of professors like Professor Modenos and Professor Friedman and forge that into a meaningful degree has been very exciting. For me, UMass was the right fit at the right time. I would encourage people who are interested in doing a program like UWW to not think of themselves as a nontraditional student. I was surprised by the sheer volume of people who were doing what I was doing. It made me think, ‘Hey, maybe this is normal.’ So I encourage people to think, ‘Hey, I’m just going to finish what I started.’”

Brian Katcher '22 was a life flight paramedic for just under 16 years, overseeing air medical crews consisting of paramedics, nurses, mechanics, and pilots. Prior to that, he worked as a paramedic on a ground ambulance. After graduating, he is considering pursuing a career in emergency management and continuing to teach the next generation of paramedics. Brian graduated Summa Cum Laude through UWW with an interdisciplinary degree in leadership studies with a focus on emergency services and emergency management.  

Then and Now: Senior Series

Now in its fourth year, the UMass Amherst Senior Series celebrates the remarkable stories of the university's graduating class. Take a peek at the stories from the last four years below.