Life Saving Skills by Alicia
Aliciaof Spanish Fork's entry into Varsity Tutor's August 2015 scholarship contest
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Life Saving Skills by Alicia - August 2015 Scholarship Essay
The summer before my junior year of high school, I was left with a decision to make between accepting a job offer as a pizza maker, or begin training to become a lifeguard. While the pizza-making option would've been a much easier choice for me, after a few days of thought I decided to challenge myself and go through the physical and intellectual training to become a lifeguard. My class and I were trained on life-saving skills such as CPR, AED, Emergency Oxygen, and First Aid. We were presented with real-life situations, and were asked how we should respond, which positions the victim should be placed in, the amount of time that should be spent on each rescue, and which equipment was required for that specific situation. In the moment, my head was swirling and my stomach was turning just thinking about actually having someone's life in my own hands.
Only about four students in my entire high school were lifeguard certified, and that's when I realized how crucial it is to have the skill set that I just recently learned. What if a high school student is baby sitting and a child chokes, or what if a group of friends are playing basketball and someone gashes their hand open on the rim of the hoop? If such skills were taught in high school, students would be ready and prepared to take action and help the person in need. These certifications don't even have to be an entirely new course in the curriculum. They could be integrated into physical education courses, health classes, or extracurricular activities.
In high school we learned the quadratic formula and how to write stories using archetypes, which is all great information to know, but what about things that prepare you for emergency situations in the future? Making life-saving skills a required subject in the American High School curriculum could not only teach students about what to do in such situations, but it could also be saving several lives down the road. Looking back, I couldn't be happier that I went through those tests and courses, because now I know that if I am ever in the right place at the right time, I will be able to save someone's life.