Makenna Haas 鈥�26 is living something of a double life. She鈥檚 not only a senior finishing up her Emergency Management degree, but she鈥檚 also the acting director of Cloud County Emergency Management. Connections, she noted, were key to achieving this position and her ability to perform within it.
Before coming to Kansas Wesleyan, Haas, a Salina-area native, had worked as a CNA, dabbled in being an EMT and received her associate degree in Fire Science from Salina Area Technical School.
When those options didn鈥檛 quite fit, she decided she could push her education, and natural gift of gab, even further.
鈥淚 love firefighting, and I love EMTs and all the people that I鈥檝e met along the way,鈥� Haas said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a little bit more political. I like to talk to people more than actually working on them.鈥�
That was when she decided to come to Kansas Wesleyan.
鈥淲hen I came to 黑料不打烊, I was really set on being a government consultant,鈥� she said.
Though she envisioned herself working at the federal or state level, her interest in local government blossomed during her time interning with Saline County Emergency Management.
While with them, she attended meetings, wrote grants and created a tornado safety exercise, which she was able to test on 黑料不打烊鈥檚 campus
this summer.
That, partnered with her experience as a volunteer with the Salina Fire Department District Five, Kansas Search and Rescue and Saline County Sheriff鈥檚 Mounted Patrol Squad, made her unusually qualified for a young professional just entering her field. So, when a job opening for an Emergency Management director opened in Cloud County, her colleagues at SCEM and professors at the university were the first to push her toward it.
鈥淸While interning with Saline County Emergency Management], I got to know all the emergency managers for the region,鈥� she said. Those she met were able to offer endorsements of her accomplishments and work, which helped significantly when she applied for her role.
鈥淏asically, they [Cloud County] were like, 鈥榊ou can finish out school and we’ll pay you to work,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淪ign me up.鈥�
She鈥檒l spend her Spring 2026 semester learning online while also working full-time in Concordia.
This arrangement was made possible through the flexibility of Kansas Wesleyan鈥檚 Registrar Office and Emergency Management department, both of which worked with Haas to ensure she could work and finish her degree.
鈥淪he鈥檚 an outstanding student,鈥� said professor Bernie Botson. 鈥淲e coordinated classes and directed studies through the registrar鈥檚 office to get her to graduation. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. We had to make it work, and we had to do it in a week.鈥�
Haas was sworn in as Cloud County鈥檚 acting director of emergency management on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
As for whether she鈥檚 ready for the challenge of running her department, she鈥檚 not worried about what鈥檚 to come.
鈥淚 like being in charge, and I鈥檓 definitely a people person, so it doesn鈥檛 bother me at all,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am ultimately a department of one. It鈥檚 just me, so I have to figure it out.鈥�
She acknowledges that she won鈥檛 have to go it alone all the time.
鈥淚f I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 doing, somebody I have in my phone is going to know.”
Story by Skylar Nelson 鈥�21. This story will appear in the Fall/Winter edition of Contact 尘补驳补锄颈苍别.听
