Project Reflections
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As a student at Southern Utah University (SUU), I had to create and complete an EDGE project. EDGE is a multi-semester project that is designed to provide experiential learning to the student. It also sets SUU graduates apart by providing them with an example of their finest work to showcase in their professional portfolios. For my EDGE project, I wanted to become a certified instructor with the American Heart Association and teach parents CPR and basic first aid.
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There were a few things that inspired me to choose this as my EDGE project. First of all, I am a parent. I have five children; three boys and two girls. Another reason was that my cousin Emily saved a little baby boy by performing infant CPR until the ambulance arrived. Because of this I wanted to teach other parents life-saving skills.
The purpose of this project was to prepare as many parents as possible to respond successfully to emergencies in their life. Another goal of the project was to help hone my basic lifesaving skills as a healthcare provider. In order to make the project manageable I made these goals into clear statements: become certified as a CPR instructor with the AHA, teach classes to parents in Cedar City, and make a YouTube video that can be shared indefinitely. The YouTube video wasn’t in the original draft of my project, but I added it later to reach more people.
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I took several steps to achieve my goals. The first thing I did was to get involved with the local AHA training center. Cris Kunz was my main contact at the training center in Cedar City. She helped me to understand which courses I needed to take, and she put me in contact with an AHA instructor who trained me.
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Once I was certified I needed to hold classes, so I asked local church leaders if I could use their building to teach classes. I asked the youth leaders to ask their young women to volunteer hours for free babysitting. I also passed out flyers in church organizations and on Facebook in order to advertise for the classes. I taught the classes alongside three of my fellow nursing students, but sometimes things don’t happen according to plan.
There was a minor setback when an entire class cancelled on one of the evenings. It was then that I had the idea to make a YouTube video. My biggest reason for this was because despite the free babysitting and free education, it was still a challenge to get parents to attend the class. So, the last part of my project was to produce a YouTube video teaching basic CPR. My brother helped me shoot the video, edit the footage, and post it on YouTube. I then shared it with the SUU nursing department and friends through social media.
Ultimately I feel like I reached my goals of the project. By becoming a certified instructor with the AHA I strengthened my own skills as a healthcare provider. By teaching classes in Cedar City, I was able to reach my target demographic and give them knowledge and skills for emergencies. By making a CPR YouTube video, I was able to share this knowledge with more than 200 additional people.
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Through completing my EDGE project, I refined skills I already had as well as gained new skills. The main skills I improved were my basic life-saving skills, CPR and first aid. I gained skills for showcasing my project while building a website to serve as a digital portfolio. In carrying out the project I had to develop several leadership skills. I feel like I used the intrapersonal leadership skills of knowledge, intelligence, proficiency, vision, and ambition to develop myself and become expert enough to teach others basic life-saving skills. I believe that I also had to use interpersonal leadership skills when directing others. These include planning, organizing, teaching, delegating, and coordinating. The vision of the project was easy to convey to others, and they were very willing to assist in the overall goal of distributing life-saving knowledge and skills to parents. I am grateful to all the volunteers who helped me carry out the project.
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Completing the EDGE program at SUU has given me some insight as to why the program exists. I believe the graduation requirement to complete the EDGE program sets SUU apart as an institution as well as its students. The experiential learning requirement gives the student experience, period. This doesn’t come from reading textbooks and attending lectures, but it comes from doing something. I believe the project spans several semesters in order to pull the student out of tunnel vision and gain a broader understanding of themselves and the purpose of their education. When we began the EDGE program we were encouraged to choose a project that was related to our future professions. I didn’t realize until recently that at the end of the program we have a digital portfolio that we can add to our resume. This makes us stand out to future employers because it shows that we have gone above and beyond the expectations of a traditional baccalaureate education. For these reasons, I grew immensely as a person and a professional because I participated in the EDGE program.