It’s Official: Jackson Hole High School Becomes the Third Founding School of The CPR Ready Generation™
Five student leaders brought The CPR Ready Generation™ to Jackson Hole High School Friday night — backed by their school, their community, and a student-led commitment to making CPR readiness part of the culture.
Friday night football in Jackson Hole already brings people together.
But on Friday, September 4, 2026 there was something else happening under the lights at Jackson Hole High School.
Students, families, school staff and members of the community came out to support their varsity football team — and they also came together around a group of students who are working to make their school more ready to act when it matters most.
The CPR Ready Generation™ officially launched at Jackson Hole High School.
And with that launch, Jackson Hole became the third Founding School of The CPR Ready Generation™.
At the center of it were five students:
Metta. Piper. Annabel. Thea. Silvia.
These students didn’t simply show up for a launch organized for them.
They are the reason the movement is at Jackson Hole.
And if you want to understand what The CPR Ready Generation is supposed to look like when students truly take ownership of it, this group is a pretty good place to start.
This Was Student-Led Before Launch Night Ever Arrived
The story at Jackson Hole didn’t begin Friday night.
Long before The CPR Ready Generation team arrived in Wyoming, these students were already doing the work.
Led by Metta, the group also leads the Heart Beaters club at Jackson Hole High School — a student-led effort with a remarkably practical mission:
Train and certify students throughout their school in CPR.
That matters.
Because student leadership can sometimes become something we talk about more than we actually see.
At Jackson Hole, you can see it.
Students are taking responsibility for helping other students learn a lifesaving skill. They’re giving their time. They’re organizing. They’re teaching. They’re bringing their peers into the conversation.
They aren't waiting for adults to tell them that readiness matters.
They already believe it does.
And they are doing something about it.
That is exactly why Jackson Hole High School belongs in The CPR Ready Generation.
Five Students — With an Adult Who Believed in Them
Students lead this movement.
But strong student leadership is often made possible by an adult who is willing to open the door, support the students and let them run through it.
At Jackson Hole, that person is school nurse and CPR Ready Generation supporter Mrs. Beth Shidner.
She has supported Metta, Piper, Annabel, Thea and Silvia as they have built the Heart Beaters and expanded CPR training among their peers.
And on Friday night, she was there alongside them as they took another step — bringing The CPR Ready Generation to their entire school community.
That partnership is exactly how this movement is designed to work.
Adults support.
Students lead.
And when both pieces are there, students can do far more than participate in another school program.
They can change what their school believes is normal.
Bringing Readiness Into the Friday Night Lights
There is something fitting about launching The CPR Ready Generation at a high school football game.
It’s one of the few places where nearly every part of a school community can come together at once.
Students.
Parents.
Teachers.
Coaches.
Administrators.
Athletes.
Families.
Neighbors.
Friday night gave the Jackson Hole student leaders a chance to put the movement in front of all of them.
The CPR Ready Generation team was on site throughout the launch, supporting the students, talking with members of the school community and capturing interviews with the young leaders responsible for bringing the movement to Jackson Hole.
Those conversations were an important part of the night.
Because this movement is not supposed to speak for students.
We want to hear from them.
Why does being ready matter to them?
Why did they decide to lead?
What have they learned from teaching their peers?
What would it look like if more students saw themselves as people capable of stepping forward in an emergency?
Those are the voices that should shape where this movement goes.
And Friday night, Jackson Hole gave us five more of them.
Jackson Hole High School: Founding School No. 3
One of the most meaningful moments of the evening came when Jackson Hole High School was officially recognized as the third Founding School of The CPR Ready Generation™.
The CPR Ready Generation team presented the school with its official Founding School certificate, recognizing the students and school community for helping build this movement at its earliest stage.
But the recognition came with something else that can make a real difference for the school community.
Through the support of Founding Sponsor Partner Defibtech, Jackson Hole High School was also presented with a donated AED.
It was a fitting combination.
Recognition for the culture these students are building.
And lifesaving equipment to support the community they are serving.
Because readiness isn't one thing.
It is training.
It is access to an AED.
It is knowing where that AED is.
It is having the confidence to respond.
And, maybe most importantly, it is creating a culture where people don't automatically assume somebody else will step forward.
Jackson Hole Is Showing What Student Leadership Can Become
There is an important distinction between students being included in something and students actually owning it.
Jackson Hole is showing us the difference.
Metta, Piper, Annabel, Thea and Silvia aren't being positioned as the faces of an adult-run initiative.
They are doing the work.
Through the Heart Beaters, they are already training and certifying their peers in CPR.
Through The CPR Ready Generation, they now have an opportunity to take that leadership even further — helping make readiness visible across the school, bringing more students into the movement and challenging their peers to think differently about the role they could play in an emergency.
That is how culture changes.
One student teaches another.
One student speaks up.
One student posts.
One student invites somebody else in.
One student decides, I want to be part of this too.
And suddenly readiness isn't something confined to a health class or a certification card.
It becomes something students identify with.
More Than Trained. Ready.
The goal of The CPR Ready Generation has never been to replace CPR training.
Jackson Hole's Heart Beaters are a perfect example of why.
Training matters enormously.
But there is another question that comes after someone learns the skill:
Will they use it?
When something actually happens…
When someone collapses…
When everyone looks around…
When there isn't a teacher standing next to you telling you what step comes next…
Will you step forward?
That is the gap The CPR Ready Generation exists to address.
We want students to leave school with more than knowledge.
We want them to see themselves differently.
As people who notice.
People who get help.
People who find the AED.
People who act.
People who don't simply wait for somebody else.
At Jackson Hole, that idea already has a strong foundation.
These students are not just talking about readiness.
They are teaching it.
They are sharing it.
And now they are inviting the rest of their school to own it with them.
Founding Schools Are Building This With Us
Being named a Founding School means something different at this stage of The CPR Ready Generation.
These aren't schools joining a movement after everything has already been built.
They are helping build it.
Their students will help show us what works.
They will help shape how other schools launch.
They will help define what student leadership inside this movement can look like.
And the stories, ideas and leadership coming out of these first schools will help create a path for the schools and students who come next.
Jackson Hole High School is now part of that story.
Founding School No. 3.
And the five students who brought it there now have an opportunity to help take something they already started at their school and make it even bigger.
To Metta, Piper, Annabel, Thea and Silvia: Keep Going
Friday night was worth celebrating.
But what makes us most excited isn't what happened Friday.
It's what happens next.
It's the next student you train.
The next student you bring into Heart Beaters.
The next person who learns where an AED is.
The next conversation you start.
The next student who sees what you're doing and decides they want to lead too.
That is how a movement grows.
Not because an organization arrives at a school and tells students what to do.
Because students step forward first — and other students follow.
Metta, Piper, Annabel, Thea and Silvia have already done that.
Mrs. Shidner has helped create the space for them to lead.
And on September 4, the Jackson Hole community came out and stood behind them.
Jackson Hole High School, welcome to The CPR Ready Generation™.
You are officially Founding School No. 3.
The certificate is on the wall.
The AED is at the school.
The launch has happened.
Now the students get to show us where they can take it.
That’s The CPR Ready Generation™.
Student-Led. School-Supported.
Built to create a generation that is ready to step forward.
From trained to ready.
That's The CPR Ready Generation™.
Student-Led. Sponsored by WorldPoint & Defibtech.
Ready to help starts with deciding you will.
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