Mercedes Schneider: Teen Heroes
Mercedes Schneider offers a collection of positive tales of the Kids These Days. Reposted with permission.
In this pandemic-riddled time of readily-abundant bad news, let’s have a bit of the uplifting, shall we?
To this end, I offer enticing excerpts from several stories celebrating the heroic (often split-second) actions of a number of teens.
Follow the links or watch the videos for full details and feel encouraged about the generation who seem to be umbilically melded to their iPhones.
************************
Scotch Plains (NJ) Teen Saves Man Whose Kayak Overturned on Jersey Shore (VIDEO)
August 22, 2021
MANASQUAN, NJ — What started as a family fishing trip on Saturday would up being a life-saving adventure for 19-year-old Anton Zambell, a Scotch Plains resident who was in the right place at the right time to rescue a man whose kayak had overturned in waters off Manasquan.
Around 7:00 a.m. Zambell, his dad, and his younger brother, Jordan, were taking their boat through the Manasquan inlet when he noticed a man holding onto a kayak that had flipped over when a motorboat roared past him. The kayaker could not flip his boat back over to the upright position and was barely able to hold on, according to Zambell.
************************
Stow (OH) Teen Saves Mother and Son While Vacationing in North Carolina
A Stow teenager is being credited for saving the lives of a mother and son while on vacation in the Carolinas. Travis Shrout saw the two struggling while swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, so he sprang into action to help. WKYC Channel 3 (Cleveland and Northeast Ohio).
From the July 15, 2021, Akron Beacon Journal:
A Stow teen only served as a lifeguard for a year and a half, but that training and a great amount of adrenaline took over earlier this month when he saved two people from drowning at a North Carolina beach.
On July 3, Travis Shrout, a Stow-Munroe Falls High School graduate and a rising sophomore at Hiram College, was spending his last day at the beach with his family in Topsail Beach, North Carolina.
The 18-year-old had spent the day catching waves on bodyboards with his brother and a family friend, and noticed that the waves were a little rougher than usual.
Everyone decided to go back to shore, but family friend Thad Unkefer asked Shrout to go back out so that Unkefer could try a new tracking feature on his drone.
Shrout swam out with his bodyboard and noticed Ashley Batchelor of North Carolina and her 10-year-old son, Conner, were farther out into the ocean and seemed to be struggling.
“I thought I heard ‘help’ but it was such a weird situation. I said, ‘Are you alright?’ and she said, ‘No,’” Shrout said. “I immediately started swimming out to her.”
************************
Teen Saves Neighbor’s Life after House Catches Fire from Lightning Strike
July 09, 2021
WEBSTER, N.Y. – Isabella Marlin happened to be awake early on July 6 when a nearby home was struck by lightning, starting a raging fire. Not only did the teenager jump into action, but she’s being hailed a hero for saving her neighbor’s life.
According to Marlin, she had just returned home from a late-night flight, which was delayed two hours, and was upstairs unpacking when she noticed the flames.
“I just started yelling to my parents that our neighbor’s house is on fire,” Marlin told FOX Television Stations.
Her family called 911 while she ran to the burning home and started pounding on her neighbor’s door.
“It was really scary. I didn’t know what to do at first,” Marlin shared. “When it hit, I was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s probably someone in the house. I need to go and get them out before anything happens.’”
************************
Teen Saves His Mom’s Life Using Hands-Only CPR He Learned in School
June 01, 2020
It was late August 2019, and Saturday morning in the Walenga household was off to its typical All-American start. Kristen Walenga sent her husband off to work and geared up for her team mom duties as she made breakfast for her four children. Her daughter Rose, 14, got ready upstairs for cheerleading pictures and her youngest sons, Sam, 11, and Nate, 9, ran around outside to burn some energy before their youth football game.
The family’s eldest child, Eddie, 15, was in the basement playing video games when he heard a loud crash coming from the kitchen above him, followed by screams for help from his younger brothers who had just come inside. Then the family pet, a certified therapy dog, started howling. That’s when Eddie realized this wasn’t a typical Saturday at all.
He raced up the basement stairs to find his mom in a heap on the floor, and his two little brothers standing there in disbelief. At first, they thought their mother was just playing around.
Eddie, who had taken a Hands-Only CPR class a few years earlier in middle school, quickly realized his mom wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.
************************
Just One Day after Completing CPR Training, a Teen Saves Her Friend’s Life
March 19, 2021
(CNN)With 30 compressions and two rescue breaths, 16-year-old Torri’ell Norwood saved her best friend’s life, just a day after completing a basic life support class at her high school.”I never would have thought that I would be the one, out of all the students in my class to have to perform it on someone,” she said.Norwood was driving three friends home in St. Petersburg, Florida, on February 20 when another driver slammed into her from her left and sent her car careening.
“We crashed in someone’s yard and I hit the tree,” Norwood said.
The impact jammed shut the driver’s side door, so Norwood climbed out the front window. Two of her friends managed to get out of the car unharmed, but the collision caused her 16-year-old friend A’zarria Simmons to hit her head on the backseat window.
“When I turned around, I didn’t see A’zarria running with us,” Norwood told CNN. “So, I had to run back to the car as fast as I can. She was just sitting there unresponsive.”
************************
Lincoln (NE) Teen Saves 7-year-old from Drowning in Local Pond
July 19, 2021
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A north Lincoln teen took quick action Sunday when he saw a 7-year-old drowning in a pond near 14th and Superior.
Abbie Wilson received a knock on her door Sunday evening, a knock she never expected. When she opened her door she found two teenage boys standing on her porch holding a child that was soaking wet.
“They had told us, they just pulled him out of the pond and he was under water and it looked like he was really struggling to get up and get some air,” Wilson said. …
But the story starts far before Wilson.
A 16-year-old boy, who we’re calling mystery man, jumped into the pond to save that little boys life.
************************
Teen Saves Young Girl From Being Led Away by ‘Creepy’ Stranger
June 17, 2021
A young girl in England was rescued from a terrifying encounter thanks to the intervention of a quick-thinking onlooker.
According to The Liverpool Echo, 15-year-old Emma Carlile was walking home from her high school in Wallasey Village when she saw a child being approached by a man. …
The stranger reportedly told the girl, who looked to be around aged 11 or younger, that he was friends with her father.
“No, I don’t remember,” replied the young girl. But that didn’t stop the man. …
At that point, the child reportedly tried to take out her phone, possibly to call one of her parents. “No you don’t need to ring anyone, you know who I am, I’m your dad’s mate,” the man allegedly told her.
Suspecting that something was wrong with the encounter, Emma followed the pair around a corner.
************************
Thank you, teens, for taking risks for the well being of others.
For more uplifting tales about altruistic teens, Google “teen saves” and enjoy the read.
