Northland Schools Student Honored for Helping Bus Driver During Medical Emergency

A bus driver for Northland Community Schools in Remer was taking her usual route after school, dropping off students. That’s when she was stung by a bee and quickly realized she was having an allergic reaction. But thanks to the quick thinking of one of the students on the bus, everyone was safe.

That local hero was Alexis Anderson, who was on her on her way home after an ordinary day of school when all of the sudden, the bus driver was calling for help.

I got stung in the back of the shoulder. I had my windows open … I’m semi-allergic to bees, about the sting, and it hurt really bad,” explained Northland Community School Bus Driver Sarah Dixon.” So I called Alexis up because she’s one of our older students on the bus and I asked her to come up, check it out, see, make sure what it was, if the stinger was in there. She did, we got to a safe location and I had asked her to stay with the bus and help me out on the bus with the kids, making sure everybody got where they were because of my arm was swelling up. I’m starting to hurt, I’m in pain and dealing with first responders at that point in time, and she took over the bus for me to make kids stayed safe.”

Thanks to Anderson’s actions, where she staying calm and organized when Federal Dam first responders arrived on the scene, Northland Community Schools wanted to recognize her with a Certificate of Excellence at their annual student awards on Wednesday.

“Crazy how good of a person she is,” said Federal Dam Fire Department Chief Willie Raines. “I was on the phone with one of the gals from school. We’re trying to get buses straightened out and pick up the other kids. And this gal was telling me, ‘No, this is their parents.’ And she went above and beyond what she was supposed to do as a young student. I mean, we need a lot more people like that in the world.”

Anderson says she was simply just trying to help.

“I didn’t really expect anything from it. So yeah, I’m just helping out,” she offered. “It just kind of all happened so fast, and I just kept my calm, just helped out with the situation.”

Everyone at the school couldn’t be more proud of her.

“I feel like everybody’s got a hero in them, but it just is a matter of being brave enough to show it, and she was brave enough to show it at the right time, and we’re very proud of her,” said Northland Community Schools Superintendent Mary Yakibchuk.

“I’ve seen her blossom into the young lady that she is turning into, and to see her calm and level-headed … it’s great to see that,” added Dixon. “It’s awesome to see her blossom. Hopefully she’ll just keep growing and blossoming and keeping that level head that she’s got and having a bright future because she can keep the composure with that, that’s for sure.”

Northland Community Schools also recognized eight scholarship recipients during the awards ceremony, and McKinna McKinney received the Presidential Excellence Award for having a 3.87 GPA.