MANCHESTER, Mo. – Noah Adou and Jackson Lange accepted their superintendent character awards to much adulation.
The two Parkway South High School juniors received the awards for something they did not do in the classroom, but for what they did on their way to a school track meet.
“Our first reaction was to get out of our car and get up there,” Lange said on Wednesday.
While on their way to Parkway North High School in March, their classmate’s car was t-boned and flipped at Page Avenue and Fee Fee Road.
“The car got hit, went into the air, and flipped over, and it landed on its side,” Adou said.
The two rushed to the car to help their classmates, applying lessons they learned in the classroom and using their shirts as tourniquets.
“Jackson was like, take off your shirt and put it on the wound, and that’s what we did,” Adou said. “We learned that in health class.”
There were no serious injuries, although one student was taken to the hospital. Parkway South High principal Angie Papas-Muyco said the students are living the mission of the school district.
“I think that’s the greatest accomplishment that an educator can receive,” she said. “When students apply the skills and are not afraid.”
With adulthood right around the corner for the two young men, Lange thinks the experience may inspire a new career goal.
“It felt pretty natural to me,” he said. “I don’t really know what I want to do after high school, but it piqued my interest.”
