Shortly after the Killingworth Ambulance Association’s board of directors convened its monthly meeting in late March, board secretary Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz was asked to read a card mailed earlier in the month. It was a hand-written note from Killingworth’s Jasmine Byrne, one of five recipients of the KAA’s 2021 scholarships and a recent graduate of the University of New Haven.
Essentially, it was a recap of her college experience and update on her search for a post-graduate job. But it was more than that. It was a gracious thank you for what the KAA did five years earlier when it awarded her a scholarship.
“I remain deeply grateful for your investment in students like me,” she said. “I know first hand what a difference it makes.”
Board members were overwhelmed by the response, partly because it was a 246-word hand-written note of gratitude. I mean, who does that anymore? And that’s when it occurred to us: If the scholarship made a difference to Jasmine, it might have made a difference with others.
So we decided to find out, checking in on three recent recipients. These are their stories.
TREVOR HINES, 2018 recipient
The last time we checked in with Trevor he was completing an internship with the East Lyme Police Department prior to gaining a degree in criminal justice from the University of New Haven. Then 22, Hines gushed about work that included “ride-alongs,” where he joined an officer in a patrol car as an observer.
But that was April, 2022. Now 26, he’s no longer involved with the East Lyme Police or ride-alongs. Instead, he’s in his third year as a marshal at a New London superior court.
“It’s an interesting job, and I enjoy it,” he said. Plus, it’s a little bit different every day. You don’t always get the same thing, which is what I appreciate about it.”
Four years ago, Hines expected to launch a career in law enforecment immediately upon graduation, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he chose to follow his brothers working for Schumack Costruction in Clinton, an outfit owed by his gradfather, Jim Lally.
He stayed for a year … or until someone told him about working as a marshal. The job sounded appealing, mostly because the hours weren’t so demanding, so he applied, engaged in training and won the job. Now he commutes daily from his home in Killingly and occasionally stops by Killingworth to see his family.
“I thought about staying (at Schumack) with my brothers still there,” Hines said, “and it was hard for me to leave. But I wanted to use my degree, and the hours and the benefits are really good. It’s a good fit because the schedule is nice and you still get that law enforcement aspect to the job. Am I happy? I am. And I could see this being a career.”
BRYCE O’LINN, 2024 recipient
If this young man’s name sounds familiar, it should. He’s one of the most decorated scholarship recipients in KAA history … and he hasn’t yet turned 20.
At 17, he became a certified EMR. At 18, he received his state FF1 (entry level firegfighter) and Hazmat Operational certification. Two months later, he gained his FF2 certificate. In October, 2025, he was hired as a career firefighter at the Groton Naval Submarine Base. And this January he completed his EMT certification and National Registry EMT.
We’re not finished. In March of this year he was named winner of the 2025 Chief’s Award, given annually by the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company and usually reserved for members with years of service within the department.
Bryce was 19 when he won it.
“Honestly, I was a little surprised,” he said. “But it means a lot because it shows what I’m doing is appreciated and recognized I was the first in my entire family to do anything in the fire or medical world, and I’m not entirely sure why I chose it. I always wanted to help people, but I thought I should get my EMT because of the position some of my family members were in. Their health was in decline.”
The truth of the matter is that when O’Linn graduated from HKHS, he envisioned his own auto repair shop one day. But those plans changed with a single experience as a probationary firefighter with the KVFC.
“It was the first time I got to do a live burn,” he said, “and I got hooked. I knew then it was something I wanted to do. So, from there, I kinda kept going with it. I don’t know what it was specifically, but it was like it had something to do with adrenaline. Once you’re inside a burning building, it’s something no one gets to experience unless you’re a firefighter.”
OK, we get that. Most people run out of burning buildings. But firefighters? They run into them. So there must be something more, right? There is. A close friend described O’Linn as someone who “always wanted to volunteer and help people out because … well, because that’s the way he is. It’s in his DNA.”
Well, now you know.
“I’ve gotten comments like, ‘Dude, you could be doing this and that and making twice the amount of money,’ “ said O’Linn. “But I absolutely love what I’m doing. I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s the best job ever.”
JASMINE BYRNE, 2021 recipient
Most people have no idea what profession they want to pursue until, say, college or later. But Jasmine Byrne isn’t most people. She knew the moment she settled into her seat in a sixth-grade English class reading a mystery novel she couldn’t remember.
“I didn’t even like the book,” she said. “But what I liked was the lesson we were doing in that class. It had to do with how the job of crime scene analysts was to piece things together. And the way my brain works … well, that was interesting to me.”
So once Byrne, who turns 23 in May, enrolled as a high-school freshman at HKHS, she attended a Crime Scene Investigation Program at the University of New Haven and set her sights on attending the school. Four years later she did, studying forensic science with a concentration in biology. At least, that was the intention.
Then she took organic chemistry which, by her own admission, “was tough.” That was followed by a stab at organic chemistry II, which was supposed to be tougher. Except it wasn’t.
“Everything clicked,” she said. ”I ended up getting A-plus and 100 on every exam I took. I loved it.”
Apparently. Because she suddenly changed direction, entering a four-plus-one program at UNH where she earned a bachelor’s degree in forensic science and a masters in chemistry. She completed her requirements last December, was awarded her degree in January and just began a promising career this month at one of the nation’s top biopharma industries (she asked that it not be identified) where she’ll work as an analytical chemist in product development.
“Once I heard, I screamed,” she said. “Mom and Pop and I were all screaming and yelling our heads off. When everyone who asked me about it, I told them I was over-the-moon ecstatic.”
Which is precisely the emotion she conveyed when she reached out to the KAA last month, thanking its board for the scholarship she received five years ago.
“You know what that did for me?” she said. ”It made me proud of myself. It made me feel that I could actually do something good. I knew that I always had the power to do something, but for a group of people to say, ‘Yes, we believe in this girl and we want to financially back her?’ That was so fulfilling. I don’t think I would’ve been able to have the confidence to do much of what I did at UNH without that.”