Christopher Kip ’95: Fire Chief

“Davidson was a challenging and transformational experience for me, but all I knew for sure was that I wanted to give of myself,” he said. “I wanted to do something different from the more expected fields.”

Kip, a Samuel H. Bell Scholar, traveled to Cyprus the summer after he graduated, where he worked with Professor of Classics Emeritus Michael Toumazou on an archeological research project. He picked up enough Greek to converse with the local Cypriot students while they cleaned bones in the shade. 

One woman asked him what he wanted to do with his life when he returned, and Kip admitted he didn’t know. 

“You should be a firefighter,” she responded. “You care about people, and you like to fix things.”

Several months later, back in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, Kip drove past a fire station asking for volunteers and thought, “Why not?”

He intended to work at the station for a few months before going to graduate school but quickly found a sense of purpose in the service-centered culture of firefighting. Most of his peers had never traveled outside the state or attended college, but despite differing life experiences, they shared values of honor and selflessness.

After two years as a volunteer, Kip was hired as a full-time firefighter. Twenty-seven years later, he’s an assistant fire chief in Columbia.

“The fire service is the most humanitarian profession in the world,” he said. “Fire touches every part of a community, and we’re called to help regardless of circumstance. One has to have an open mind, an open heart and an ability to shed judgements.”

At every stage of his career, Kip has called upon skills and lessons he learned at Davidson. His knack for writing helps him excel in an admin role, and he’s used his limited knowledge of French and Hindi to communicate with civilians on the ground. Just as Davidson alums can meet anywhere in the world and share an instant connection, so can firefighters at stations across the country. 

“I didn’t have the answers as a student,” Kip said, “but Davidson prepared me for life.”