A fellow student recently arranged for a number of us to take a CPR and AED (automatic external defibrillator) short course. I think every one of the 11 KAUST students is either an avid diver and/or snorkeler.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I know for my personally it was because I wanted to be able to be a better dive buddy. (In PADI and all diving certifications you’re supposed to dive with a buddy for both safety and fun.) Although we always take appropriate precautions when diving, it can still be a dangerous sport. We all feel like learning CPR and how to operate an AED were easy steps to mitigate some of this risk.

During dive training, we have to practice some emergency maneuvers, but I always had this lingering curiosity about whether or not it would come back to you naturally during an emergency situation. Once while diving, my friend Noah took off his tank and regulator and swam over to our friend Luca and signaled that he was out of air, asking to use his alternate air source. While it’s a simple act to share your air, seeing another diver pop up needing air would be quite a surprise.

That said, I realized after the course that we were at least better prepared for unforeseen accidents than we were when we started.