While most of us were still recovering from our large Christmas dinners, the Emergency Medical Response (EMR) explorers were getting ready to go on a four-day trek to Camp Cutter, also known as EMR Academy. EMR is a program where students learn all about the medical field. "If you want to be a doctor this is the right thing for you because of all the medical training you get," junior EMR ex-explorer Kanika Khanna said.

EMR members utilize the knowledge that they acquire. "The year that the seniors blew up the fountain on the quad as a senior prank, a lot of people got hurt," Khanna said. "A bunch of EMR kids came to the rescue, so it's really unpopular at Gunn because of that." Senior EMR captain Noah Azarin believes that EMR is also a great asset to the community. "EMR goes beyond training," Azarin said. "We go into the field and provide first aid at community events and festivals around the Bay Area."

The EMR student advisors keep the tradition of EMR Academy because they feel it is necessary for the group of new and old members to bond. "EMR is run by a couple of advisors and a lot of students," junior EMR student director Anan Mathre said. "Part of what makes it so successful is that we form a very tightly knit group of people. There's no better way to create bonds with other people than to be stuck in the middle of nowhere."

Here is a look at the fun yet challenging four-day adventure that the EMR explorers experienced at Camp Cutter from Dec. 26 to 29.

Day 1

The explorers of EMR met at Stanford Fire Station 6 on Dec. 26 and left at 8 a.m. for Camp Cutter in the Santa Cruz mountains. After a two-hour ride to the camp, the EMR members were immediately rushed off the bus and directed to their first workout–a two-hour fitness session where they participated in a gamut of activities, including push-ups and and cardio activities. "[EMR] trains you mentally as well as physically how to work in stressful conditions and how to overcome them," junior EMR explorer George Sun said. After starting the trip with a bang, the EMR explorers picked up their belongings and got settled into their lodges. They continued their first day with a lesson about taking "vitals," or basic medical procedures such as taking someone's pulse, respiration and blood pressure.

Day 2

Students woke up at 7 a.m. to start the second day's activities. Two California Highway Patrol officers demonstrated an enactment of an arrest on the Emergency Medical Technicians. "They went through a car arrest with guns and handcuffs and everything," junior EMR 1 Sergeant Iris Shieh said. "Shane Yarbrough, a Palo Alto Firefighter, set up the lodge so it looked like a maze with two alarms." The explorers then had to grab each other's ankles and crawl through the maze blindfolded to find the "victims" to drag them out in a staged search and rescue activity. "It was a really great way for the individual squads to come together and learn to communicate," Shieh said. "We learned how to trust and rely on each other."

Day 3

The explorers spent another day with Palo Alto Firefighter Shane Yarbrough. He took the explorers through a series of activities, including a realistic competition where the students had to unroll a fire hose up a mountain and then roll it back together. "Each time he said 'time up' we would show him what we had, and if it wasn't right, he threw the hose and told us to do it again," Sun said. "Shane taught us how to trust our teammates and work together, and believe in yourself when you take action."

Day 4

After four days of workouts, learning and team bonding, the EMR explorers cleaned up the camp and packed up to go home. However, the EMR Drill Instructors (DI) had one more message before the students headed back to Palo Alto. "The DI talked to us about being sent off to Africa and how we really need to appreciate our lives here," Sun said. Mathre felt that this year's EMR Academy trip was a success. "You get put in situations that are super stressful where you have to improvise and learn to deal with impossible things," she said. "You can't get that kind of taste in a classroom with a textbook–you have to be out there talking to people who have been through it before."