Turning up the heat: St. Mike’s alum parlays wilderness experience into service career fighting wildfires

For Ben Mogensen ’24, St. Mike’s helped ignite a passion for service, teamwork and conservation that would grow into a roaring fire.  

These days he can be seen deploying from a helicopter fighting wildfires for the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho. Before that, he served as a land management volunteer with AmeriCorps, working on wildfire suppression and controlled burns that foster forest health and protect fire-risk communities in California and Colorado. 

It may seem like a lot to accomplish in one year’s time for the May 2024 graduate who is putting his Environmental Science degree and Chemistry minor to use, but Mogensen’s aspirations are just heating up. Amid the flames, he’s found grand adventure and meaning in the large and small – from sawing through burning trees to protect against future wildfires to bonding closely with his team over home-cooked meals and crossword puzzles under the California stars. 

A life of service provides mountaintop experience  

Ben Mogensen ’24 of the U.S. Forest Service in front of Wino Basin prescribed burn in Custer County, Idaho on June 9, 2025.

Upon leaving St. Mike’s, Mogensen decided to forego the desk job route and work with his hands.  

“I joined AmeriCorps as a land management volunteer because it combined three things that give me a deep sense of purpose: physical challenge, teamwork, and environmental conservation,” Mogensen said. He also said it was an opportunity to do something meaningful for a country that had given him so much. 

Mogensen was in the first cohort of participants in the AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) Forest Corps, which launched in July 2024. He flew to Sacramento and trained for a month in wildfire mitigation tactics with the U.S. Forest Service with other 18- to 26-year old volunteers. They were then sent out across the U.S. in teams of six to 12 to complete their 10-month service.     

Mogensen and his crew started around Lake Tahoe and then branched out to other areas of northern California and parts of Colorado, including Vail. They worked on wildfire suppression, prescribed burns, and silviculture surveys – essentially a health check for parts of the forest to predict future growth – for timber sales. 

The experience was even grander than the vast mountains under which he worked.  

“With deep appreciation for the jagged peaks of the Sierras, the powdered snow of the Rockies, and the glow of burning timber, I found peace working closely with eight other people and building a culture of our own design,” he said of the experience.  

His favorite memories were the quietest ones: “sitting down each night to a home-cooked meal with eight of my closest friends, and unwinding with in our homemade crossword puzzles, riddles, and word games.” 

The sky isn’t the limit 

After completing his service with AmeriCorps, Mogensen began working for the U.S. Forest Service in Challis, Idaho. He is part of a helitack crew – a helicopter wildfire module.  

These crews drop firefighters near a wildfire so they can assess and respond to the situation on the ground. Often the teams build firelines – burn a line of vegetation so that when the fire reaches that point, it doesn’t have the fuel to go further.  

Ben Mogensen ’24 in front of the U.S. Forest Service Challis (Idaho) Helitack helicopter, June 2025.

Sometimes teams remain overnight in remote locations, hike to a new spot to be transported out, or prepare a helicopter landing zone in the forest. They do all of this while lugging firefighting equipment, which can weigh up to 120 pounds, according to the U.S. Forest Service. 

Mogensen is pursuing senior firefighter status with the intention of becoming a squad boss by 2027, he said. However, his aspirations also include a career outside of fire at some point.  

After hanging up his chainsaw – a tool he utilizes regularly and received special training for – he would like to pursue a career in sustainable international development and diplomacy.  

“My goal is to work closely with developing nations to ensure that economic development coincides with sound environmental conservation,” he said.  

How St. Mike’s sparked a career in fire service 

Ben Mogensen ’24 (right side with chainsaw) and two AmeriCorps crews deployed to the Bear Fire in Sierraville, California in Sept. 2024.

If he hadn’t attended Saint Michael’s College, Mogensen said he is not sure he would have ended up serving in AmeriCorps.  

“In the most practical sense, Saint Michael’s provided me with an affordable education, which gave me the financial freedom to volunteer for a year without the burden of overwhelming student debt,” he said. “On a more personal level, my time working as a kayak instructor in the SMC Adventure Sports Center prepared me to lead others in dynamic outdoor environments with both safety and confidence.” 

He obtained his Wilderness First Responder certification while at St. Mike’s through the Adventure Sports program. He later put the training to use by serving as a medic for his AmeriCorps crew. He treated injuries and helped prevent minor medical issues from escalating, he said. 

While at St. Mike’s, Mogensen also received his Peace Corps Prep certification which equips students with the necessary tools and preparation for volunteer service, such as for AmeriCorps.  

Beyond the tangible, St. Mike’s also instilled character values.  

“What I carry most from Saint Michael’s is a commitment to approaching every interaction with kindness and curiosity, grounded in the belief that everyone I meet has something to teach me,” he said.  

Words of advice 

Reflecting upon his time at St. Mike’s and what helped him get where he is today, he had some words of wisdom.  

To the new college first years, he suggested: “always be the first one to smile.”   

For those wrapping up their college experience and embarking out into the wide world, he borrowed from something he learned from his school in Massachusetts: allow yourself to be formed by the common, ordinary, unspectacular flow of everyday life.  

Ben Mogensen ’24 in a field of juniper in Tulelake, California that needed removal to protect the wetland.

His current place in life and the experiences he’s had since have helped those words sink in. 

“Nine years later, I have begun to seek meaning in the small things, hoping they will foster a peace and joy independent of external circumstances — a journey I believe is worth taking, no matter who you are,” he said. 

A stop in Colchester, Vermont, was part of that grand journey, at least for a little while.