For Cody Bourque, a member of the Beta Omicron chapter of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, December 10, 2008, turned out to be more than just the last day of class for the fall semester.

While settling in for his final class of Television Technique, a female student frantically alerted the class that another female student had passed out in the restroom. Bourque, who was CPR certified as part of crew training for the Gear Up Florida team in 2008, thew off his coat and ran to the bathroom.

“My mind was racing, but I knew the first thing to do was check her vitals, which I did three or four times while calming myself down,” said Bourque. He, assisted by the female student who alerted the class of the situation, was able to revive the student.

After regaining consciousness, the student curled into a ball and fainted again. Bourque again resumed compressions, reviving the young woman a second time. Soon after, paramedics arrived and took the student to the hospital, where she was observed and released later in the day.

Although he has no doubt that his efforts helped tremendously, Bourque is the last person to call himself a hero.

“I just think I was at the right place at the right time. Hopefully this encourages people to become CPR certified. I’d never thought I’d actually put it to use, but no one knows when something like this could happen,” said Bourque. “I just feel pretty proud we were there to help out.”

In his current role as Student Government Association president at Northwestern State University, Bourque has been pushing for all student groups to have a certain number of members CPR certified.

[News release from www.pikapp.org]