Students learn how sheriff’s detectives investigate and collect evidence after a mock apartment fire during the Alliance Academy for Innovation's (AAI) disaster exercise. Students experienced how professionals including first responders, medical personnel, Red Crossers and journalists, work during the drill.
By Christopher Quinn, Communications Volunteer
CUMMING, Ga. --- You’ve seen the plot in countless movies: school students band together to fight off zombies or put on a forbidden school dance or otherwise save the day.
Cheryl Mahan, an American Red Cross senior account manager for hospital sales, had a different idea for students at the Alliance Academy for Innovation in North Georgia’s Forsyth County.
“Let’s do a disaster” and let the students respond. Mahan helped set up a mock massive apartment fire at the school, throwing in the addition of a mysterious murder among the many victims. The training exercise would give the school’s students a chance to rub elbows with and learn from professionals from across the service spectrum who came to help – firefighters, nurses, law enforcement, former journalists, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and Red Cross staff and volunteers.
Principal Karl Mercer was all-in on the idea. He said the public school’s unique curriculum gives students first-hand exposure to career paths to help them define and find future jobs.
Mahan, who also serves on the school’s board, knew the training exercise was a way to further the school’s mission and “hopefully, it will inspire them to volunteer with us,” she said.
American Red Cross volunteer Marie Mayner explains to students how the Red Cross sets up shelters for disaster victims during AAI's mock apartment fire.
Students Join Red Cross Legacy
With the exercise, the students joined Red Cross history. Young people have been essential volunteers since the Junior Red Cross was created during World War I. Students knitted scarves, rolled bandages and built furniture for hospitals and nursing homes. They worked in Victory Gardens (vegetable gardens that added to the nation's food supply) and raised money. Junior Red Cross members contributed an incredible $3,677,380 to the Red Cross during that war.
In recent years, high school and college students have supported Red Cross Biomedical Services by giving blood and hosting drives. Blood drives give students chances to participate in community service projects that save lives, provide opportunities to develop leadership and promote teamwork.
Some students at Alliance Academy have already jumped into that historic stream of volunteers.
Patti Duckworth, the executive director of the Northeast Georgia Chapter of the Red Cross, said she knows students at the school have given time.
Forsyth County and its schools provide a “large amount” of volunteers in her district because students can earn graduation credits by spending time in a community service project such as a blood drive.
Students find out what happened to a teacher playing an apartment resident when a mock fire broke out during the disaster exercise at AAI in Forsyth County, Georgia.
Disaster Simulation in Action
When the exercise started, the professionals brought in stretchers, first aid equipment, cots, police tape, fire-fighting equipment, green oxygen bottles and other items that can be found at a disaster scene, transforming the school gym. Students were handed tags that defined their roles in the disaster – apartment residents, EMTs, investigators, firefighters and Red Cross workers and teachers – helped organize them. The apartment fire scene was set outside and then everyone dove into the action when teacher Janice Kochevar gave the word.
Victims were triaged and sent to aid stations or a Red Cross shelter. Students took on their roles and got to question the professionals about what they do and see how they do it. Red Cross volunteers Jon and Marie Mayner of Toccoa, Georgia, fielded questions as they explained to some students the ins and outs of setting up a Red Cross shelter.
The chaotic fun buzzed along for about 40 minutes before the students were called together for a group session.
Red Cross volunteer Jon Mayner fields questions from AAI student Ashritha Arun, who took on the role of a reporter at a mock Red Cross shelter.
Student Ashritha Arun was one of about 350 high schoolers who took part in one of the three different sessions. She took on the role of a reporter during the exercise and learned more about how Red Cross emergency shelters work.
“I learned that a lot of people volunteer to help people with their families,” she said.
Arun already volunteers with the school’s partnership with Meals by Grace, a local nonprofit that feeds children and families in need. She knows the school also hosts Red Cross blood drives – students as young as 16 years old can give blood with parental permission – and she has taken Red Cross training in CPR and first aid to help a choking person.
She said the experience may encourage her to volunteer more.
Red Cross staff and volunteers who respond to disasters explain how they coordinate emergency aid as part of the fire simulation drill at AAI.
Opportunities for Youth Volunteers
Duckworth told the students, “The Red Cross can’t do what we do without our volunteers.”
Student volunteers can participate in activities such as the annual Sound the Alarm campaign, which educates families about fire safety and installs free smoke alarms. They can help organize and staff blood drives, train to give disaster preparedness presentations, become certified first aid and CPR instructors and teach classes to support other students, neighbors and communities. The Red Cross National Youth Council hosts a Summer Series of exciting events and activities for young volunteers.
Duckworth encourages young people to get involved because it helps equip them for adult life in many ways. They learn important life skills, from teamwork to making social and professional connections.
And being involved gives students more than just practical life skills.
“Being involved is sometimes more than just doing good. It gives you perspective,” she said.
How to Become a Youth Volunteer:
Red Cross youth volunteers learn valuable lessons in how to work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, mobilize communities and create positive change. They hone their leadership skills, make new friends, and explore new interests, all in a friendly, encouraging and age-appropriate environment with visible results. Volunteering today can be the start of a lifetime of generous service to good causes.
If you, or someone you know, is interested in becoming a student volunteer, you can read about and sign up for youth activities here. https://www.redcross.org/red-cross-youth.html
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.
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