(KNZA)--A Hiawatha teen has been recognized for her heroic actions following a school bus crash in Brown County last November.
Troopers with the Kansas Highway Patrol presented 17-year-old Raven Zimmers with an Honorary Trooper Award during a ceremony Tuesday evening at Hiawatha High School.
Zimmers, who will be senior at Hiawatha High School next year, also received an Award of Valor from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.
She’s credited with helping more than 20 students get off the school bus after it overturned and rolled near the intersection of U.S. 73 Highway and 170th Road the morning of November 18th.
Master Trooper Bryce Whelpley with the Kansas Highway Patrol says Zimmers went above and beyond at the time of the crash. "She acted outside of what most people would do, and that's to get themselves out of harms way. She did just the opposite, she stayed there and helped every single kid."
Zimmers said she didn't really think and just started acting."It was still kind of a shock, like all the rush, like I can't believe that just happened," she said. "Then you're trying to calm everyone down, trying to get my parents, call them, then get ahold of other kids' parents because they couldn't find them."
An investigation by the Patrol determined human error was to blamed for the wreck, saying the bus driver failed to stop at a stop sign.
Twenty-two students, along with the driver, were transported to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.
