Training Your Instincts

Today, we had a fire drill.  It was not unlike other fire drills we've had, except for what happened on the way back into school.  A student dropped his bookbag, stumbled, and passed out.  It was very brief - he woke right up on the sidewalk.  I, of course, had a teacher with a cell phone call the nurse.  But what happened as the nurse was coming was amazing.

A fourteen year old boy took charge of the situation before anyone else could.  He cleared the crowd around him.  He had the student lie down on the grass.  He checked that he could track motion with his eyes.  He checked the student's oral intake for the day.  He had the student talk about what he last remembered happening (he didn't remember passing out).  By the time the nurse arrived, every question she has was answered.

I walked back into school with the student who helped out.  It turns out, he took a first aid training course, and it just came naturally to him.  When he was needed, he just did what had to be done.  Students like this reaffirm my hope for the future.