PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — Peach County High School's new Certified Nurse Aide program is offering students an opportunity to learn new health skills before graduation.
Seniors who are taking the course, like Keniya Williams, say learning new health skills helped build a new confidence in career goal-setting.
"We've learned about bedmaking, CPR, and how to treat patients," Keniya says. "You learn a lot as you go and you're building yourself as a person."
Williams said she hopes more of her peers will take advantage of the free course.
"If something were to happen right now, if anybody were to pass out, everybody should know what to do," Keniya says.
Principal Jesse Davis made a surprise pop-up visit to the classroom to see what students learned so far.
"That's a real practical skill for people to have," Principal Davis says, "And it really give a sense of community when you're equipped to help the people around you."
Davis says the school and Peach County's superintendent had a vision to give students at the high school more opportunities to learn important life skills they can take with them to the workforce.
"It's always our hope that our programs will continue to grow, and I know that these students are going to share their experience in that class with others," Principal Davis says. "I'm confident we'll see more students expressing an interest and that makes our program stronger."
After completing the program and taking a written state test, those students will then become certified nurse assistants before graduating high school.