By Jackie Budko

University of Maryland students spent their Friday night at Eppley Recreation Center to be CPR-certified.

RecWell and SGA are co-sponsoring a pilot series on CPR certification. The second and final session will be held April 22.

UMD’s SGA approved a bill in March that would provide a subsidy for the first 88 students to register for CPR training with RecWell.

“I believe it’s important to promote campus-wide safety, and it’s important to have CPR training as accessible as possible to do so,” said freshman biochemistry and physiology and neurobiology major David Rekhtman, who sponsored the bill.

RecWell offers annual CPR certification classes for $40, but the partnership with SGA brought the cost down to $20 per student.

“It’s really exciting to be able to promote this initiative because there are students who need CPR certifications for summer jobs, and SGA is really excited to be able to subsidized the cost of certifications,” said Rohini Nambiar, director of SGA’s Health and Wellness Committee.

In order to complete a CPR certification with RecWell, students were required to watch a three-hour video and complete a in-person training lasting about six hours.

Kat Wright, a CPR-certified instructor, said that in addition to the subsidized pricepoint, students have other benefits to getting their CPR certifications through RecWell.

“There are more instructors at RecWell than there are at a traditional CPR certification through the Red Cross,” said Wright. “At this particular instruction there are five, and I believe we all contribute something unique to our instruction.”

Students took the CPR certification for various reasons such as camp counselor requirements and resume boosters. Sophomore neurobiology and Spanish double major Abhiksha Desai said she’s getting certified just for fun.

“You never know when an emergency can happen, and I just want to be able to help in any way I can,” Desai said.