By Donna M. Perry,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Nursing assistant students from around the region pushed a gurney laden with first aid kits to a podium Thursday.

It was the final assembly for Foster Regional Applied Technology Center students and staff at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington. The two schools are adjoined.

The future nursing assistants, all females and dressed in white, are under the guidance of instructor and registered nurse Diane Wilson. They had raised $800 during the year to buy the 80 first aid kits, student Sonya Thibeault said.

One kit will go into each of the classrooms at the schools, she said.

This is a “great example” of a community service project, high school Principal Greg Potter said.

A former resource officer at the school had suggested that each classroom have a first aid kit available, in light of the Columbine school tragedy, Potter said.

The class dedicated the community service project to Lt. Col. Glenn Kapiloff, the director of the technology center, who is stationed in Iraq. Kapiloff and his Army Reserve unit of military officer instructors have been in Iraq since November teaching command skills to Iraqi military officers.

Students in the program held several fund-raisers to raise money to buy the kits, student Kayla Keene said after the assembly.

“There was a lot of enthusiasm” for the project, Wilson said, and “a lot of teamwork” – two qualities they’ll need as a certified nursing assistants.

Students take the certification test next week.

The nursing assistant program is a yearlong course leading to health care jobs, Wilson said.

“These girls did a lot this year,” she said. “I’m really lucky to work with them and share my expertise with them. I am very proud of them.”