The College of Education used funds raised on Giving Tuesday to provide assistance for teacher education candidates planning to complete their First Aid/CPR/ AED training. This training is a required part of teacher licensure in Virginia and normally costs each student about $100. $65 of this is paid to the instructor and $30 is paid by the student directly to the American Red Cross. The donations raised covered the $65 fee for 24 students to partake in the training on March 4 and March 6, 2021. Dinah Watson, owner of Compression 101, led the trainings. She received emails from several participants after the training, indicating that they enjoyed the course and found the information to be helpful. One student said that he had a family member with medical problems and having interacted with Emergency Responders several times, he found this training provided reassurance that he could help out in a future situation.

The College of Education is grateful to receive these funds to help our students financially. Many candidates lack the means to pay all of the costs associated with becoming a licensed professional. CPR/First Aid is required of all of our teacher education candidates before they can become licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A copy of certification of First Aid/CPR/AED training (in-person or hybrid) is sent in along with their licensure application during their final semester at JMU.

It is essential that these individuals become licensure eligible prior to leaving JMU, otherwise the Virginia Department of Education does not count them as program completers. Because the College is expected to produce teachers for the state, there are actions that VDoE will take if a proportion of our enrollees do not end up being licensure eligible when they graduate. These actions could compromise the reputation of our teacher preparation programs.

Our faculty, staff and advisors work diligently to prepare our candidates for the realities they will face in the classroom. Providing them the preparation to intervene in life-threatening situations arms each young professional with additional knowledge, skills and abilities – and most importantly confidence – that they can handle many unexpected medical circumstances.