Holden noticed something bad happening and realized he needed to take action.
"I realized there was a kid at the bottom of the pool," he said.
At first, he thought the kid was just playing around. Holden jumped in and moved the other boy's foot around to see if he would react, but there was nothing.
He swam to the surface to get a better look but the boy just slowly turned over.
"When he turned over and he was looking face up, he was not seeing what he was looking at," Holden said.
Holden immediately told an adult who gave him the OK to pull him up.
He dove to the bottom of the pool and brought up the boy. The adults at the party called 911 and started CPR. Paramedics said another minute underwater, and the boy might not have been alright.
Holden was glad he rescued his friend, but was bothered that he didn't know what to do after he was out of the water.
When they were all in the car, Holden said, "We all started talking like what we could have done different and how we could prepare ourselves for this if this ever happens again."
Holden and his little sister decided to take a first aid and CPR class. Julie Heim and Megan Guard-Lilly of Skagit County EMS were ecstatic he wanted to learn more about the matter.
"Super rare in kids, especially nowadays. It actually makes what we do -- that's why we do it. For those select kids that have those experiences and then after the fact are able to say, 'You know what? I didn't like the way I felt in that situation so I'm gonna practice and I'm gonna gain some knowledge so the next time this happens, I'm ready,'" said Megan.
Skagit County EMS gave Holden an award for pulling his friend from the pool.
But Holden just wanted to learn as much as he could incase.
Sign up for Health & Training Classes with the American Red Cross here. Find video tutorials on health and safety on the American Red Cross YouTube channel.
