From learning the basics of CPR to helping conduct search and rescue operations, first grade students from Dent Elementary got quite an education on Friday, April 17.
And doing the teaching were Escalon High School students, those enrolled in the school’s First Responders class.
For the past few years, Dent students have attended the EMS field day at the high school, learning about the various career options, and they got to take part in a bucket brigade, take vital signs, assess patients, get a tour of the ambulance and fire truck, and more.
Two groups came through the field day, spending time at each of the eight stations, interacting with the high school students.
“It has improved, gotten better and better, and our facilities have obviously gotten a little bit better over the years,” said First Responders class teacher Seth Davis, who brought the program to Escalon High School along with his wife, fellow teacher Su Davis. “It’s always exciting because our high school students are essentially being leaders and they are running it.”
Su Davis agreed that seeing the students in the First Responders class take ownership of the field day is gratifying.
“It’s amazing; it is validation that we’re on the right track with the program, that we’re really preparing students for what a career in public service looks like after graduation,” Su Davis explained. “They are demonstrating leadership skills, collaboration, teamwork, and the most important one for us in this event is community service and being community minded.”
She said every year they hope to make the event better and the younger students seem to always get a lot out of it as well.
“Everything’s hands on, and I think at this age that’s what they really love to do, the interactive piece is what helps them learn and those skills are really core memories for them at that point,” she added of the first graders.
For First Responders class member Jaqueline Aguayo, helping put on the field day event was a great way to share her knowledge with the younger students.
“I planned this event today, I coordinated it with Genevieve Coelho and it’s really fun to have all the younger kids come here because they’re so amazed and they never see stuff like this,” Aguayo said, referencing the chance to see emergency equipment up close and take part in the various stations.
She has been involved with the First Responders program for three years at Escalon and is a senior this year.
“Just getting involved in our community and giving back to all those who give to us,” Aguayo said of what she enjoyed most about the day.
Escalon High School Principal Jason Furtado stopped by to see the various stations and said both the student-teachers and student-learners were making the most of the field day opportunity. He also praised the work of instructors Seth and Su Davis, noting they are the ones that have made the program work for the district.
“What they’ve been able to create with this program is not only the skills that they (students) need for the jobs and careers they’re interested in but they’ve created leaders on my campus and with nearly 300 students enrolled in this program and many more that have already taken the program, what I now have is the majority of kids on my campus are leaders,” Furtado said. “And just to watch my students teach these younger students is the ultimate … if they are able to teach what we taught them, and the way they demonstrate those skills, this is the pinnacle; this is exactly what teaching’s about.”
