MCC to honor student who saved a life during class field trip
Posted by GSDispatch Editor in by Metropolitan Community College - MCC, GSD Online
Maggie Seibert helped resuscitate a man after he had been struck by lightning.
Maggie Seibert, a Lee’s Summit High School graduate, saved a man's life by administering CPR after he had been struck by lightning at Yellowstone National Park.
When MCC student Maggie Seibert signed up for a geology field study with MCC-Blue River, she did not know the kind of adventure she was getting herself into.
Seibert, a Lee’s Summit High School graduate, joined 13 other classmates in what was supposed to be a field study aimed at teaching future elementary school teachers about geology at Yellowstone National Park. But on June 2, as the class set out on that day’s hike toward Old Faithful, Seibert became a hero when she came to the rescue of a fellow student who had been struck by lightning.
As the group approached the geyser a springtime storm erupted. Within seconds, the park was covered with an inch of pea sized hail. As visitors ran for cover they suddenly heard a lightning strike nearby.
“I just heard people screaming, so I ran over, kind of cleared people out of the way and began compressions. It was kind of a blur of a moment,” Seibert said.
Immediately she began CPR on the man, 57-year-old Harlan Idell of Florida. Maggie said the situation looked dire as the lightening blew holes in his shoes and burned the hat on his head to a cinder.
After a few minutes of CPR, Idell came to and then air-lifted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls where he was later released with only a ruptured ear drum.
“Maggie is truly a hero. What more can I say?” MCC-Blue River instructor Ben Wolfe said, “We are all safe and sound and lucky to have someone like Maggie on the trip.”
Because of her quick action and heroic deed, The Metropolitan Community College Board of Trustees will be honoring Seibert at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23 at the regular trustee meeting at the Administrative Center downtown.
