The school’s Red Cross Club hosted a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructor training event to prepare club members to teach CPR on March 12.

Sophomores, juniors and seniors were able to participate in the training, which Red Cross Club Leader Andrew Cho ’22 and American Red Cross staff organized. Participants took an online first aid, CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) instructor course provided by the Red Cross prior to the in-person session.

Jason Li ’24 said he is glad that he took the course so he could be prepared in case of an emergency.

“I learned a lot and am happy that I took the course,” Li said. “I think it’s important to cover CPR and first aid because we, in our everyday lives, can often be on the scene before [emergency medical services] and with training can help save someone’s life.”

For the first half of the day, an American Red Cross instructor described different life-threatening scenarios, and students practiced saving humans using mannequins. Students reviewed skills such as how to perform proper CPR and manage an AED.

Students were given a lunch break for 30 minutes and resumed their training for the second half of the day. The Red Cross assigned each student a life-threatening scenario to teach to the rest of the class as a part of their instructor training.

After all the students went through the teaching activity, the Red Cross staff gave feedback to each student, and the instructor training course event concluded with an overview of what the classes they will be teaching will look like.

Red Cross Instructor Wendy Graham said she likes teaching this course because it enables a safer world, with people prepared to act in an emergency.

“I like being an instructor because I know that people are prepared, and there are a lot of emergencies out there where people haven’t known what to do,” Graham said. “The Red Cross Club has a mission of helping someone anyplace, anytime, and I am glad I get to be a part of that.”

The school’s Community Health Officer Milo Sini said teaching CPR to others is great way to share and learn a life skill.

“I think it is an amazing way for students to learn a new skill that they can pass on to someone else,” Sini said.

Red Cross Club members who took part in the CPR instructor training course will use what they learned from the event to teach their first class after school March 16.