1 . Best friends since seventh grade, Torrie Norwood, 16, and Azarria Simmons, 17, had just spent a Saturday night out when they decided to head home. As they drove back to their hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, another car crashed into them. After a while, Torrie opened her eyes and realized that the car had pushed hers into a tree in the middle of someone’s front yard.

Then the screaming started. “It’s gonna blow! ” yelled the gathering crowd as the pickup truck went up in smoke. Torrie’s door wouldn’t open, but her window had been knocked out during the crash, so she had an obvious escape route.

“Everyone ran down the street because we all thought the car was going to blow up, ” Torrie says. “But then I turned around, and I didn’t see Azarria running with us. I had to run back to the car to see if she was still in there and she was. ”

Things didn’t look good. “She was unresponsive (无反应的) in the back seat, ” says Torrie. “I had to drag her out because she wasn’t moving or breathing. There was glass and blood everywhere.“ Luckily she managed to pull her out. Torrie told a bystander to call 911 and got to work. Then she started CPR (心肺复苏) on her friend. After 30 chest compressions (挤压) and two rescue breaths, Azarria began to show signs of life. Just then, the paramedics (急救人员) rolled up ready to rush Azarria to the nearest hospital.

Azarria survived the accident, thanks to Torrie’s quick actions. But she couldn’t have saved her friend’s life if she hadn’t received CPR training. That’s an important lesson for everyone who hasn’t done that yet. “I feel like CPR training should be a requirement in schools, ”Torrie says. “It is something we can use for the rest of our lives.”

2 . Norwood, a junior High School student, was driving three friends home in St. Petersburg, when another driver crashed into her from her left and made her car hit the tree. The impact jammed shut the driver’s side door, so Norwood climbed out the front window. Two of her friends managed to get out of the car unharmed, but her 16-year-old friend Zarria didn’t. She run back to the car only to find Zarria was just sitting there reactionless.

A lot of people started to gather around to see what was happening. Norwood started yelling, “Back up, back up, she needs space.” Norwood pulled Zarria out of the back seat, avoiding broken glass from the window. “That’s when I checked her pulse on her neck. I put my head against her chest, and I didn’t really hear nothing. So that’s when I just started doing CPR on her.” Norwood told the reporter. After the 30 compressions and two rescue breaths, Zarria regained consciousness. Ambulance quickly arrived and rushed her to the hospital to receive medical help.

When Miller, Norwood’s high school teacher, learned that Norwood saved a friend just   one day after completing CPR training, she was at a loss of words and so proud. Norwood participates in the school’s Athletic Lifestyle Management Academy (ALMA). The program prepares students for various careers in health science. “We do vital signs and they learn how to take blood pressure and check pulse.” Miller introduced. And another one of the skills learned is CPR. “There are two components, a hands-on skills component where they have to demonstrate that they’re able to do CPR well, and then there’s a written test component, showing that they remember that knowledge.”

Thanks to Norwood’s quick thinking, Zarria is recovering well. She also isn’t surprised by her friend’s actions. “She will always help any way she can, so I wasn’t really shocked about that.”