When Anthony Garzone II and his fiancée Heather Park, both December 2020 Nursing graduates, saw a stranger in medical distress, they didn't hesitate to help.
Just days after graduating, Garzone, Park, and their five children were doing some last-minute Christmas shopping at a local chain store. A few minutes into their trip, another shopper suddenly collapsed to the floor. Garzone immediately checked for a pulse.
There wasn't one.
Garzone initiated CPR, and Park quickly jumped in to help. By chance, another trained nurse was in the store at the same time and started taking turns with Garzone and Park doing chest compressions.
Finally, the man's pulse returned, if only faintly. By that point, the paramedics had arrived and took over.
The family never found out what happened to the man they aided that day. But personal closure isn't what's important, Garone noted: it's doing the right thing.
"If he did die there that day and no one helped him, his family would have no idea what happened to him," Garzone said. "It's about human life. That's someone's dad or son."
Garzone is the first member of his family to earn a baccalaureate degree. But Garzone and Park found more than just a good education at the Mount: they also found each other. They met when they were assigned as lab partners in Microbiology lab, and about halfway through their academic journey, Garzone proposed to Park in the doorway of the lab where they first met.