Thanks to 11-year-old Skylar Berry, 6th grade classes at Orchard Elementary School are a little different than usual. That’s because Berry is adamant that all her peers learn CPR.
Students huddle around Berry as she demonstrated hands-only CPR. Her classmates are learning simple chest compressions to the beat of the disco hit “Stayin’ Alive.”
So why is this 6th grader so passionate about CPR? She recently used it to save a friend’s life at a birthday pool party. The kids were playing in the pool when they realized that one of their friends was at the bottom. They dragged him out and realized he wasn’t breathing. Checking his pulse, Berry knew she only had one choice to try and save his life.
“It was pretty cool. I’ve never seen an 11-year-old do CPR on another kid. It was so relieving,” says the birthday boy, David Baltzley.
A little overwhelmed by all the attention, the boy is back in school, feeling just fine. Berry credits the Sacramento Metro Fire Department and their Fire Camp for teaching her about CPR and water safety. She’s hoping to spend whatever free time she has this school year to teach others to save lives, including spreading the word about her new CPR club.
“We want to teach other kids that real life situations are no joke,” Berry explains. “It’s no time to mess around.”